Since the financial collapse, the Federal Reserve has increased the money supply by about a factor of five and held short-term interest rates near zero. These unprecedented actions have led to a sharp rebound in the housing market and, consequently, an improvement in appliance production. However, at the time of this writing, the Federal Reserve had only one more month left in its "quantitative easing" program. And it has stated that it will likely raise short-term rates sooner than many expect. This is likely to have significant consequences for the housing and appliance markets.
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