Financial stress in the US has been low in recent weeks, according to four benchmarks published by Federal Reserve banks. The relative calm comes in the wake of the first increase in the Fed funds rate in nearly a decade, a widening of the high-yield spread and increased anxiety about the outlook for economic growth. Despite those changes, several metrics that are designed to quantify the overall level of financial stress point to a generally serene state of affairs for the nation’s financial system.
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