Central Bank Watch
New Zealand Monetary Policy Remains in Pause Mode
January 26, 2011
The official cash rate, which has been 3.0% since a second hike of 25 basis points in July 2010, was again left unchanged. The first hike of 25 bps was made in June 2010 from a cyclical low of 2.5% between April 2009 and that month. During the great recession, the cash rate was slashed […] More
Central Bank Watch
An Essentially Unchanged Statement
January 26, 2011
Even fewer changes were made to the January FOMC statement than had been introduced to the prior statement of December 14th. A modest upgrade had seemed plausible in the characterization of economic activity, but such wasn’t to be. One inconsequential modification was to substitute “improvement in labor market conditions” for “bring down unemployment” in the […] More
Central Bank Watch
FOMC
January 26, 2011
Some meetings of the FOMC attract tremendous prior attention. This has not been one of those although the first meeting of every year creates some uncertainty as four new reserve bank presidents take their place as voting members. Tom Hoenig of the Kansas City Fed was a voting member in 2010 and cast a dissent […] More
Central Bank Watch
Norway Monetary Policy Unchanged
January 26, 2011
The Norges Bank as expected, retained a 2.0% key interest rate level, same as since May 2010 for essentially the same reasons as given in December. Core inflation is running at about 1.5%, a percentage point less than the medium-term target. Other central bank rates have been low, and raising Norwegian rates could subject the […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Spotlight on Fed and Other Central Banks
January 26, 2011
The Federal Open Market Committee meets today for the first of eight scheduled dates in 2011. A statement at 19:15 GMT is not expected to modify policy. Minutes from the Bank of England’s January 12-13 meeting revealed a second dissenter in favor of raising the Bank Rate by 25 basis points and a majority somewhat […] More
