Larry's Blog
Productivity: Fact or Fancy?
December 3, 2008
No economic concept is more closely related to changes in the standard of living than productivity, output per man-hour of work. GDP has two parts, productivity and hours worked. If output only rises in tandem with the labor force and the rise in hours of work, per capita GDP, akin to the standard of living, […] More
Larry's Blog
What About Danish Interest Rate Policy?
December 3, 2008
Danish monetary policy is subordinated to the goal of stabilizing the krone against the euro. Danish voters opted out of participating in the common currency, and the economy is paying a price for that independence. Ordinarily, Danish interest rate policy moves in lock-step with whatever the ECB does. But pressure on the krone and depleted […] More
Larry's Blog
Swedish Riksbank Preview
December 3, 2008
In a sign of these tumultuous times, the Riksbank’s December interest rate meeting was moved forward to today from its originally scheduled time at mid-month. Officials are taking no chance of being left out to dry but sizable rate cuts after meetings of the ECB, Bank of England, and New Zealand, not to mention the […] More
Currency Markets in the News
ECB Preview
December 3, 2008
I expect the ECB to cut rates by at least 75 basis points despite a lack of verbal clues. Economic weakness has descended too quickly for shifting sentiment on the Governing Council of the European Central Bank to have been well-communicated in a fresh message. Even more importantly, inflation is receding faster than expected. A […] More
Currency Markets in the News
Service Sector PMI Worsened Much More Sharply in the United States Than Euroland
December 3, 2008
U.S. Ezone U.S. Ezone Sum of Services Services Spread Mf’g Mf’g Spread Spreads January 44.6 50.6 -6.0 50.7 52.8 -2.1 -8.1 February 49.3 52.3 -3.0 48.3 52.3 -4.0 -7.0 March 49.6 51.6 -2.0 48.6 52.0 -3.4 -5.4 April 52.0 52.0 0.0 48.6 50.7 -2.1 -2.1 May 51.7 50.6 +1.1 49.6 50.6 […] More
Uncategorized
Information on Federal Reserve Reciprocal Swap Arrangements
December 3, 2008
A number of people have asked for information on the usage and size of Federal Reserve currency swap arrangements. Such can be found in the quarterly reports published by the Fed entitled Treasury and Federal Reserve Foreign Exchange Operations, the latest of which can be viewed by clicking here. A background piece on this subject […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
New Overnight Developments Abroad: Kiwi and Sterling Weakened Ahead of Central Bank Meetings
December 3, 2008
The dollar is 1.0% higher against the New Zealand dollar and British pound. Central bank policy meetings Thursday in New Zealand and Britain are expected to result in interest rate cuts of over 100 basis points. The dollar otherwise shows gains of 0.4% against the euro, 0.3% against the Aussie dollar, 0.2% against the Swissy […] More
