By: Dr K C Gupta, YBB Personal Finance

CONTRARIAN INDICATORS

AAII Bull-Bear Spread -17.8% (very low)
CNN Fear & Greed Index 15 (extreme fear)
NYSE %Above 50-dMA 32.17% (negative)
SP500 %Above 50-dMA 30.80% (negative)

ICI Fund Allocations (Cumulative), 2/28/26
OEFs & ETFs: Stocks 61.70%, Hybrids 4.02%, Bonds 17.45%, M-Mkt 16.43%

INTEREST RATES

Cycle peak 5.25-5.50%
Current 3.50-3.75%
FOMC 4/29/26+ hold (last FOMC meeting under Fed Chair Powell)
FOMC 6/17/26+ hold

Treasury

T-Bills 3-mo yield 3.70%, 1-yr 3.68%; T-Notes 2-yr 3.79%, 5-yr 3.94%, 10-yr 4.31%; T-Bonds 30-yr 4.88%;
TIPS/Real yields 5-yr 1.37%, 10-yr 1.97%, 30-yr 2.66%
FRNs Index 3.653%

Bank Rates 
www.depositaccounts.com/


Stable-Value (SV) Rates, 4/1/26
TIAA Traditional Annuity (Accumulation) Rates
  Restricted RC 5.00%, RA 4.75%
  Flexible RCP 4.25%, SRA 4.00%, IRA-101110+ 3.45%
TSP G Fund 4.375% (previous 4.000%)

India Fear & Greed MMI 26.21 (extreme fear)
Weekly ETFs: INDA +1.81%, INDY +2.12%, EPI +2.44%, INDH +0.36%, SPY +3.43%

The data above are as of Sunday preceding the publication date.

IT/TECH

Indian-origin ROBOTICS company GreyOrange may have a US IPO or SPAC merger. SPACs are US blank-check companies that raise the money first & then have up to 2 years to find operating companies or return the money with interest back to investors; SPAC boom peaked in 2021.
GreyOrange was founded by BITS-Pilani alumni Samay KOHLI & Akash GUPTA. Its US investors include Tiger Global, Mythril Capital, Peter THEIL, etc; Indian investors include Binny BANSAL (cofounder of Flipcart), Blume Ventures, etc. It specializes in AI software & hardware related to order fulfillment & warehouse automation & has offices in Asia, Europe & North America. Since 2021, its headquarters are in Atlanta metro area (GA, US).

UK Gorilla Technology & Yotta Data Services have a deal to develop high-performance AI datacenter.

Alkami Technology, in partnership with Summit Consulting, an affiliate of ANSR, is starting a GCC in India. Its DSSP platform is used by banks & credit unions. ANSR is a US-based company specializing in GCCs. Most GCCs are in India. Accenture has a minority stake in ANSR.

Altos Computing, an Acer (Taiwan) subsidiary, is launching AI server manufacturing in India.

SPECIAL TOPIC – 20-Yr LEVEL TERM-LIFE
20-Yr level term-life insurance is the most popular term-life Insurance.

Term-life market shares (2024):
By premiums: 20-yr 40%, 30-yr 21%. 10-yr 17%
By number of policies: 20-yr 39%, 10-yr 18%, 30-yr 17%

Level term policies don’t have cash-values for the insured, but insurers hope that internally kept cash-value records average around $0 at the term end. So, in the earlier years, the level premiums are higher than straight annual term premiums, but lower in the later years but the income from internal cash-values kick in.

These policies may have premium disability waivers &/or accelerated death-benefits in cases of terminal illnesses. At the end of the term, there are options to renew (at higher premiums) until age 95 or to convert to whole-life or universal-life (with much higher premiums & cash-value buildup) – both without medical underwriting, sometimes also referred to as guaranteed renewals or conversions.

Rated highly are Banner Life/William Penn (overall), Symetra (lower rates), Penn Mutual (favorable conversions), Principal (business owners), Pacific Life (coverage ranges), Nationwide (early death-benefits). Most big life insurers offer term-life policies.

Use online quote services for shopping & select highly rated insurers – you want your insurer to be around for years ahead. If working with an insurance agent, you may have to ask & insist on term-life products because these have low commissions & agents tend to push more expensive insurance products that have higher commissions.

For younger families, some combination of term-life & permanent-life (while-life or universal-life) may be more affordable. If you have some life insurance through work, beware that those will disappear on job termination. Group life insurance through professional associations may start reducing coverages, say, after 60.

Contingent insurance such as AD&D (accidental death & dismemberment) is very cheap but not very useful either. Insurance is an expensive product, so avoid buying it piecemeal in small amounts, e.g. credit insurance, burial insurance, etc. Estimate the overall insurance needs & buy the largest coverage that you can afford.

Due to health issues, it may be very expensive to get life insurance at older ages. It’s also difficult & expensive to get insurance for minors – logically, insurance should be for earners in the family or for family members providing essential household services. If you have insurance & don’t need it when older, you can cancel. Don’t mix insurance & investments although there are insurance products such as variable-life that do that.

For more information, see https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/