Central Bank Watch
Bank of England Preview
May 5, 2009
This month’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, whose announcement is set for Thursday at 11:00 GMT, will be uneventful and mirror last month’s. In March, the Bank Rate was halved to 0.5%. Officials indicated that level would be the end of the line for cutting rates and immediately announced a 75 billion pound program of […] More
Currency Markets in the News
ECB Preview
May 5, 2009
Thursday’s policy meeting at the European Central Bank will arguably be its most important since the common currency was founded in 1999. In spite of the talk of “green shoots” in the global economy, an imperative exists to extend monetary easing. A spectrum of voiced opinions from a minority of the ECB Governing Council members […] More
Central Bank Watch
Indonesian Rate Cut
May 5, 2009
Bank Indonesia lopped off another 25 basis points from its key interest rate to 7.25%. Such was the sixth reduction since December 4th from a peak of 9.5%. Similar to the prior easing, today’s statement projected 3.4% growth in GDP this year and inflation hovering near the floor of its 5-7% target range. Since the […] More
Central Bank Watch
No Change in Australian Monetary Policy
May 5, 2009
The Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash rate at 3.0%. While meeting consensus expectations, investors also took note of a surprisingly upbeat and ambivalent statement. In such, officials spoke of more stable world financial markets, noting rising equities and declining term spreads. While reiterating that Australia has been in a recession since the latter […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
New Overnight Developments Abroad: Commodity Currencies Firmer
May 5, 2009
The Canadian dollar hit 1.1702 per USD today, its strongest level of 2009. The rand touched a 7-month high of 8.2621/USD and is up around 15% since end-2008. The U.S. dollar is trading down 1.0% against the kiwi and 0.6% against the Australian dollar after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rate unchanged […] More
