Central Bank Watch
Bank of Japan
December 20, 2013
The Policy Board’s final monetary policy meeting of 2012, lasting five hours and 43 minutes over two days, produced little of a surprising or noteworthy nature. Officials released a statement that’s an extremely close facsimile to the prior November 21 statement. Policy settings were not changed, nor was the assessment of growth conditions and inflation. […] More
Central Bank Watch
Reserve Bank of India Policymakers Decide to Wait but Remain Vigilant about Inflation
December 20, 2013
This week’s mid-quarter policy review left the repo rate at 7.75%, the reverse repo at 6.75% and the cash reserve requirement at 6.75%. The decision not to tight further was a difficult one. In a world of disinflation, India sticks out as one place where excessive inflation remains stubbornly entrenched. There are indications that vegetable […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Week Ends with a BOJ Meeting, U.S. and U.K. GDP Revisions, and an EU Banking Plan in which Few Trust
December 20, 2013
The Bank of Japan left its quantitative monetary policy and economic assessment unchanged. Governor Kuroda believes 2% inflation will be reached by the spring of 2015 despite the coming sales tax increase. U.S. third-quarter GDP was revised up a half percentage point to 4.1% at an annualized quarterly pace, the fastest rate since the first […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Beyond the Taper
December 19, 2013
In the wake of yesterday’s Federal Reserve “taper” initiative, the dollar is higher, the yen is softer, 10-year sovereign debt yields are up, U.S. share prices are holding onto most of their gains, European stocks have rallied, and perhaps most dramatically of all, gold has plunged another 3.3% and is below $1200 per ounce. New […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
An Historic and Successful Day for the Fed
December 18, 2013
Since Chairman Bernanke went public last May with a plan to eventually reduce quantitative easing, no other matter has drawn greater financial market interest. The FOMC would implement this tapering of QE only when officials felt the economy and markets could handle it. The Fed ended up delaying the onset of tapering longer than it anticipated […] More
Central Bank Watch
Swedish Riksbank Repo Rate Cut
December 17, 2013
A one-year pause in monetary easing was ended this month, but the 25-basis point cut to 0.75% was expected by market analysts. Two of six members of the Executive Board had sought a further cut all year, and now the majority agreed, conceding that inflation had not developed as assumed. Summarizing today’s decision, a statement […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
December 17, 2013
Members of Turkey’s monetary policy committee agreed to leave settings unchanged after this month’s interest rate meeting and released a statement that adopts a guarded tone, affirming that “the cautious monetary policy stance should be maintained until the inflation outlook is in line with the medium term targets.” The statement indicates that “interbank money market […] More
Central Bank Watch
Czech National Bank
December 17, 2013
The two-week Czech repo rate has been at 0.05% since a 20-basis point cut on November 1, 2012. Previous cuts of 25 bps were implemented in September 2012, June 2012, May 2010, December 2009, August 2009, and May 2009. From a peak of 3.75% prior to August 2008, it was also cut 25 bps that […] More
Central Bank Watch
Magyar Nemzeti Bank Eases Again and Signals likely Further Monetary Relief Next Year
December 17, 2013
Hungary’s two week deposit rate was at 7.0% prior to August 2012 when a string of reductions began, and it has continued to now with today’s announcement of a 20-basis point cut to 3.0%. The statement concludes with the following summary of reasons for easing and forward guidance that such is likely to continue. Each […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Continuing Rush to Release Data Ahead of the Yearend Holidays
December 17, 2013
Typical of December, many countries are releasing data earlier in the month than is typical at other times of the year. The same is true of central bank meetings. Four central banks announced monetary policy meeting decisions. Swedish Riksbank: Cut its repo rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%. The decision was unanimous and expected. […] More
