Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Next Week
July 31, 2009
Central banks in Euroland, Britain, Australia, Indonesia, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Peru hold interest rate policy meetings in the first week of August. Canadian markets will be closed for Civic Day on Monday. Very few central bankers have scheduled speeches. A large contingent of British statistics get released including the manufacturing, services, and construction […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Weekly Foreign Exchange Insights: July 31st
July 31, 2009
Foreign exchange trading has been dull so far this summer. In FX, the summer is generally defined as the period confined between the U.S. Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. It often lasts fourteen weeks but comprises an extra week in 2009. Ten have passed; five remain. Each day seemingly has its own momentum. Market […] More
Larry's Blog
U.S. Real Economic Growth Since Truman — Updated
July 31, 2009
Today’s GDP report included extensive benchmark data revisions dating back the late 1940’s. In light of wide interest in a series of previous postings on this site that compared U.S. economic performances under different presidencies, I have recalculated percent per annum real GDP growth rates. Barrack Obama has considerable ground to recoup to avoid overseeing […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
New Overnight Developments Abroad: Dollar and Yen Softer Ahead of U.S. GDP Report
July 31, 2009
The dollar is up 0.2% against the yen but shows losses of 0.8% against the kiwi, 0.4% against sterling and the Aussie dollar, 0.3% against the euro and Canadian dollar, and 0.2% against the Swiss franc. It appears the Aussie and New Zealand dollars will be posting their largest monthly gains against the USD since […] More
Currency Markets in the News
Euroland Economy Poor But Better
July 30, 2009
Real GDP in the euro area contracted at the horrific rates of 4.5% in 2008 including 6.9% at an annualized rate (saar) in the final quarter. The downturn intensified with a drop of 9.7% saar in the first quarter of this year. Second-quarter figures get released two weeks from tomorrow on August 13th. Three sets […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
New Overnight Developments Abroad: Sharp Rise in European Confidence
July 30, 2009
The dollar is lower, especially against the Australian dollar (1.1%) and sterling (0.8%) but also by 0.3% relative to the Canadian dollar, euro and Swissy and by 0.1% against the yen. An exception is the dollar’s 0.2% rise against the kiwi. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand kept a 2.5% cash rate and released a […] More
Central Bank Watch
New Zealand Cash Rate Held Steady at 2.5% as Expected
July 29, 2009
As at the previous interest rate meeting on June 11, New Zealand monetary officials did not cut rates further but released a pretty somber statement warning of the risks of an excessively high kiwi and wholesale interest rates. The central bank cash rate was first cut a year ago by 25 basis points to 8.0%. […] More
Central Bank Watch
Announcing a New Post Category on Currency Thoughts
July 29, 2009
One cannot deconstruct foreign exchange market activity without engaging in a considerable amount of central bank watching. I have routinely previewed and reviewed on this service those interest rate policy meetings for currencies that are covered regularly. When I began this site in the spring of 2008, however, I did not foresee the immense number […] More
Central Bank Watch
Polish Monetary Policy Settings Left Unchanged
July 29, 2009
A streak of six consecutive monthly rate reduction by the National Bank of Poland ended as expected in July. The reference rate will remain at 3.5% after cuts totaling 250 basis points from November through June (four of 25 bps and one each in December and January of 75 bps). In contrast to a severe […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank Negara Leaves Malaysian Credit Policy Unchanged as Expected
July 29, 2009
The overnight policy interest rate will remain at 2.0%. Thus Malaysian officials reached the same decision as expected and as they did after the prior two policy meetings on May 26 and April 29th. The next rate announcement is scheduled for August 25th. From a peak of 3.5%, Bank Negara had cut rates by 25 […] More
