What’s the US Debt Ceiling All About?
The Origins of the US Debt Ceiling As part of the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917, the United States Congress established a $15 billion debt ceiling, providing a process to control the amount of US Government bonds the country could issue. Prior to 1917, Congress needed to pass a legislative act that approved the...
Capital Markets Trading Career Profile
What is Capital Markets Trading? Capital markets trading is a sell-side career path within the capital markets division at an investment bank. A trader is responsible for the buying and selling of financial markets instruments, such as stocks, bonds, foreign exchange, and derivatives, either on behalf of the bank’s institutional clients, for the bank using...
What Influences Exchange Rates?
What are Exchange Rates? An exchange rate is the relative ratio that one can exchange a unit of one currency for a unit of another currency. For example, the USD/CAD exchange rate is the quoted rate of exchanging one US Dollar for one Canadian Dollar. This ratio is determined by market forces that look at...
Carbon Markets
What is a Carbon Market? A carbon market is a place where the management teams at organizations can buy and sell different instruments that relate to greenhouse gas emissions. The two types of instruments that are traded are carbon credits (often referred to as “allowances”) and carbon offsets. Additionally, there are two types of carbon...
Impact Investing
What is Impact Investing? Impact investing is a strategy that seeks to create a specific positive impact or outcome. What sets it apart from pure philanthropy (like cash donations) is that impact investing includes an expectation of financial returns that are (at least) comparable to market returns. Categories of intended impact include (but are not...
