It is getting seriously strange out there.A decade ago it would never have crossed even the most mad of monetary minds that the great credit bubble of the early 2000s would end with interest rates actually being negative. Today it's almost entirely normal. Just another tool in a central banker's box.
Negative rates are already par for the course in the eurozone (30% of bonds in issue there will cost you if you hold them to maturity), in Switzerland, and in Sweden, and late last week Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda announced that from now on any bank that wants to keep any new cash on deposit at his institution is going to have to pay 0.1% for the privilege. Japanese rates are now -0.1%.
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