February 25, 2021
Shortly before today’s release of U.S. economic data, 10-year sovereign debt yields were showing considerable increases (for example, 8 basis points in the United States and Italy, 12 bps in Canada, 6 bps in Spain and the U.K., 5 bps in Germany and France, and 2 basis points in Japan). The trade-weighted dollar had eased […] Read Article
February 19, 2021
Central Banks: Monetary policies will be reviewed in New Zealand, China, Hungary, South Korea, and Colombia. Governors Macklem of the Bank of Canada and Orr of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will be speaking publicly, and so too will New Fed District President Williams. Holidays and Events: Japan observes the Emperor’s birthday holiday on […] Read Article
February 18, 2021
The Board of Governors of Bank Indonesia as expected authorized a 25-basis point cut of its seven-day reverse repo rate to 3.5%, which brings the cumulative reduction since the start of last year to 150 basis points. The previous easing was done just 3 months ago. A released statement observes low inflation, which at 1.55% […] Read Article
February 23, 2021
February 22nd used to be a national holiday celebrating the birth of George Washington in 1732, but it was a solemn occasion in America this year, as the number of identified U.S. deaths from Covid-19 surpassed half a million people. That’s greater than the number of combined U.S. deaths from World War II, the Korean […] Read Article
February 24, 2021
The dollar weakened 0.7% overnight against its closest neighbors, the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar. The greenback also fell by 0.6% versus the kiwi, 0.2% relative to the yuan, and 0.1% vis-a-vis the Australian dollar and sterling but advanced 0.6% relative to the Japanese yen and 0.3% vis-a-vis the Swiss franc. Equities were clobbered in […] More
February 23, 2021
Futures trading on the Nasdaq, which fell over 300 points yesterday, are down an additional 1.4% this Tuesday. The half-percentage point rise in the U.S. ten-year Treasury yield since mid-December reflects speculation that inflation and growth may be stronger than assumed later this year but not so much so as to provoke the Fed into […] More
February 22, 2021
U.S. stock futures this Monday point to a lower open, with the S&P index down 0.8% and the Nasdaq off 1.4%. Share prices closed down 1.5% in China, 1.2% in New Zealand, 1.1% in Hong Kong and 0.9% in South Korea, while in Europe, equities are thus far down 0.5% or more in the U.K., […] More
February 19, 2021
Share prices advanced 0.7% in South Korea, 0.6% in China, and 0.5% in Indonesia. European markets and U.S. futures are up, too, but equities fell in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Ten-year sovereign debt yields today climbed 6 basis pints in the U.K., 3 bps in the U.S. and Germany and one basis point […] More
February 18, 2021
Priorities are different at the Central Bank of Turkey, whose economy is again experiencing a vicious cycle of accelerating inflation and lira depreciation. Inflation expectations are higher, fed additionally by elevated food prices. From January to May of 2020, officials cut their one-week repo rate five times by a total of 375 basis points, only […] More
February 18, 2021
Overnight dollar losses range from 0.7% against sterling to 0.4% relative to the Aussie and New Zealand dollars, 0.3% versus the euro, Swiss franc and peso and 0.2% relative to the yen and loonie. The trade-weighted dollar is 0.3% softer. Ten-year sovereign debt yields are up four basis points in the U.K., lifting the pound […] More
February 17, 2021
At the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee’s first monetary policy review of 2021, officials voted unanimously to continue to target the federal funds rate at 0-0.25% and to purchase a total of $120 billion of bonds per month ($80 billion of Treasuries and $40 billion of agency MBS). Minutes from that meeting released today found […] More
February 17, 2021
The Bank of Zambia raised its reference interest rate by 50 basis points to 8.5%, marking the first increase since November 2019. The rate during 2020 had be cut 225 basis points in May and another 125 bps in August, but Zambian inflation has been above the 6-8% target and increasingly so of late. A […] More
February 17, 2021
The dollar is 0.3% stronger on an effective trade-weighted basis. It is up 0.4% against the euro and near the day’s high and touched a 5-month high of 106.22 Japanese yen overnight. The reviving dollar reflects climbing long-term U.S. interest rates as investors are betting on the Congress approving a pandemic relief package of around […] More
February 16, 2021
The dollar rose 0.2-0.4% against the euro, yen, Swiss franc, sterling, and Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars. Japan’s Nikkei-225 equity index, which jumped 1.9% Monday and closed above 30,000 for the first time since 1990, extended that advance by 1.3% this Tuesday. This rise had been ignited by news of a stronger-than-expected 3.0% fourth-quarter […] More
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