Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of Chile
August 14, 2014
Chile’s monetary policy interest rate was sliced by 25 basis points for the seventh time since last October and in the second consecutive month. The rate is now 3.5%. A released statement from central bank officials notes that growth in output and demand have slowed faster than anticipated and projects a decline in inflation: […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
A Modest Proposal
August 14, 2014
Tomorrow will mark the 43rd anniversary of the most famous event in modern currency market history. I refer to former President Nixon’s decision to sever the dollar’s link to gold. The dollar devalued four months later in a vain attempt to reestablish fixed parities. A second dollar devaluation followed 14 months afterward in February 1973, […] More
Central Bank Watch
No Change in the BI Central Bank Interest Rate
August 14, 2014
Indonesia’s key central bank interest rate will stay at 7.5%, its level since a 25-basis point hike last October that culminated 175 basis points of tightening compressed into a four-month period, which was orchestrated to reduce inflation, support the rupiah and diminish Indonesia’s large current account deficit that’s running at between 3.0 and 3.5% of […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Korea Cuts Base Rate to 2.25% from 2.5%
August 14, 2014
Although the South Korean base rate hadn’t changed since cuts of 25 basis points each in November 2012 and May 2013, today’s action was anticipated by market players because of the dovish statement in July that revealed one dissent in favor of a rate cut at that month’s meeting. Today’s statement warns of the possibility […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
More Weak Data Creating New Doubts about Future Monetary Policy
August 14, 2014
The dollar is unchanged today against the yen, sterling and yuan. It has eased 0.5% against the kiwi, 0.3% relative to the Swiss franc, 0.2% vis-a-vis the euro and loonie and 0.1% against the Australian dollar. The ten-year Treasury yield has slipped below 2.40%, a drop of three basis points to 2.39%. The ten-year British […] More
