  We show that there is no fermion sign problem in the Hirsch and Fye algorithm
for the single-impurity Anderson model. Beyond the particle-hole symmetric case
for which a simple proof exists, this has been known only empirically. Here we
prove the nonexistence of a sign problem for the general case by showing that
each spin trace for a given Ising configuration is separately positive. We
further use this insight to analyze under what conditions orbitally degenerate
Anderson models or the two-impurity Anderson model develop a sign.
