Central Bank Watch
Bank of Japan: Steady as She Goes
May 22, 2013
Following a meeting lasting five hours and 28 minutes over two days, the nine-person BOJ Policy Board released a statement that did not break fresh ground. Radical changes were introduced as a “qualitative and quantitative” sea-change on April 4th at the first meeting of the new leadership team. This was the second subsequent meeting, and […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
A Busy Day
May 22, 2013
Many things are happening today. One spotlight is on central banks. The BOJ did not change policy of aggressive quantitative easing. The economic assessment was upgraded, but market players are somewhat disappointed that no concrete modifications were announced to stop the erratic yet sharply rising trend in JGB yields, which have roughly doubled since early […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Weaker Yen and Pound
May 21, 2013
A day after suggesting the yen had fallen enough, Japanese Economics Minister Amari retreated, claiming no one really knows how far the yen’s downward correction will go. Sterling fell in response to lower-than-forecast British inflation in April. The lower inflation drops, the greater becomes the Bank of England’s leeway to stimulate growth if that is […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Focus on Japan, Not Europe
May 20, 2013
European trading was dampened by the observance in countries such as France, Austria, Norway, Denmark and Germany of Whit Monday, a Christian holiday. Its been a very light day from the standpoint of released European data. Canada will be observing Victoria Day. Remarks from Japanese Economics Minister Amari caught investors’ attention. He suggested the bulk […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Next Week
May 18, 2013
There is not a heavy calendar of central bank meetings next week. The Bank of Japan and South African Reserve Bank are two of the few. However, the top officials of the Fed, ECB, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, and Bank of Canada each speak publicly. Draghi and Kuroda of the ECB and BOJ […] More
Deeper Analysis
The Disinflation Story: More Evidence
May 17, 2013
This article updates an earlier blog entry posted two weeks ago. The latest exhibit of global disinflation comes from Canadian April consumer price data released today. On-year total inflation in Canada of 0.4% was sharply less than the 2.0% 12-month increase in the year to April 2012. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices advanced 0.7%, […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of Chile
May 17, 2013
The central bank board left the monetary policy interest rate at 5.0%, its level since a sole 25-basis point cut in January 2012. Previously, the rate was raised 475 basis points in a dozen moves between June 2010 and June 2011 after having been cut by 775 bps to 0.5% during the first seven months […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Dollar Nicely Bid this Friday
May 17, 2013
Fresh impetus for a firm dollar was provided by San Francisco President Williams. Usually aligned with Bernanke, he expressed growing confidence in the U.S. labor market and suggested that quantitative easing could be scaled back by summer. The dollar has climbed especially against commodity-sensitive currencies like the loonie (0.7%), kiwi (0.6%) and Aussie dollar (0.5%). […] More
Central Bank Watch
National Bank of Serbia
May 16, 2013
Serbian monetary officials on May 14 cut the one-week repo rate by 50 basis points to 11.25%. This reduction reverses policy gears, following a string of eight hikes between June 2012 and February 2013 totaling 225 bps. The backdrop for those earlier increases was a sharp acceleration of inflation from less than 3% to more […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey: Different Measures for Different Needs
May 16, 2013
Amid slack economic growth and inasmuch as CPI inflation had declined to 6.1% in April from 7.3% in March and 7.0% in February, Turkish monetary officials reduced the one-week repo rate to 4.5% from 5.0%, which matches the cut in April and exceeds the 25-bp move that analysts were anticipating. Because officials also fear that […] More
