Brian Chappatta, Columnist

Goldman Woos Mom and Pop With a 2% Magic Number

The bank’s Marcus unit showcases its no-penalty CD rate after three Fed rate cuts.

January 13, 2020 at 11:00 AM UTC

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

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Photographer: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

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Don’t believe anyone who says round numbers aren’t meaningful to investors.

It’s why you see guests on financial TV shows wearing “S&P 500 3,000” hats and why “Dow 30,000” merchandise is already available on eBay, even though that stock index just cracked 29,000 on Friday. It’s why there’s fanfare around Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. reaching a $1 trillion market capitalization. It’s why bond traders throw around the terms “2-handle” about 10-year Treasury yields climbing back to 2% and “3-handle” about the potential pace of global growth in 2020. Sure, round numbers might be entirely psychological, but to the extent that they push money around, Wall Street can’t ignore them.