Central Bank Watch
Chilean Benchmark Interest Rate of 0.5% Not to Be Kept Much Longer
April 15, 2010
The Central Bank of Chile slashed the key Chilean interest rate from 8.25% at end-2008 to 0.5% seven months later and is now preparing markets for a fairly aggressive rise in rates later this year. Policy remains on hold for now, pending a better assessment of the impact of the devastating earthquake that hit near […] More
Deeper Analysis
Not a Bad Day For China
April 15, 2010
April 15th was to have been the day that the U.S. Treasury Department declared Chinese officials currency manipulators, a step that would have paved the way for punitive commercial barriers against U.S. imports from that country. Instead, the Obama administration suspended the deadline a couple of weeks ago, conducted some behind-the-scenes diplomatic mending, and enabled […] More
Deeper Analysis
U.S. Job Layoffs and Consumption
April 15, 2010
The weekly data series of first-time jobless insurance claims essentially measures layoffs. The elevated readings of 484K jobless claims last week and 460K in the week of April 3rd were purportedly distorted upward by the later Easter in 2009, but the four-week average tends to smooth out such noise. The four-week average unfortunately was also […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Greek Risk Again Weighing on the Euro
April 15, 2010
It took just four days for concerns about Greek debt to roar back. A third of the post-aid package decline in Greek two-year yields has been reversed, and the Greek-German ten-year spread again exceeds 400 basis points. Investors are convinced the Greek government will have to use the EUR 45 billion package very soon and […] More
