The Fed Wants to Test How Banks Would Handle Negative Interest Rates

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-02/rates-less-than-zero-is-bank-stress-fed-wants-to-test-in-2016

"The severely adverse scenario is characterized by a severe global recession, accompanied by a period of heightened corporate financial stress and negative yields for short-term U.S. Treasury securities," the central bank said in announcing the stress tests last week.

In the simulation, the unemployment rate doubles to 10 percent, the same level it reached in the aftermath of the last financial crisis.

"This scenario does not represent a forecast of the Federal Reserve," the central bank said.