New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Partial Unwind of Monday’s Sharp Market Moves
January 28, 2020
Markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan remained closed on Tuesday. Stock exchanges in the Pacific Rim extended Monday’s losses with declines of 3.1% in South Korea, 1.8% in Singapore, 1.4% in Australia, and 1.1% in New Zealand. However, in European trading, Italian equities have jumped 1.6%, and there’s been a recovery so far of […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Three Shocks to Investor Sentiment
January 27, 2020
It’s been a difficult day in the marketplace despite the closure of many markets including China, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan for Australia Day and the Chinese New Year. The safety of investments has displaced the usual priority of return on investment. The dollar advanced overnight by 0.7-0.8% against a number of […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Next Week’s Menu: January 25-31, 2020
January 24, 2020
Central Banks: The Federal Reserve and Bank of England lead a list of central banks reviewing monetary policy that also includes Chile, Hungary, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine. Fed Chairman Powell and BOE Governor Carney will hold post-meeting press conferences. The Bank of England’s quarterly Inflation Report will be published, and a summary of this month’s […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Regional Themes
January 24, 2020
Asian market activity was depressed by Chinese New Year holiday observances. Equity markets were shut in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, and Taiwan. That being said, fears and anger related to the coronavirus outbreak have intensified. Some 40 million people in China have been quarantined. In other Asian news, Japanese CPI inflation ended […] More
Central Bank Watch
ECB President Lagarde’s Introductory Press Conference Statement
January 23, 2020
The ECB Governing Council’s first policy meeting of 2020 ended as expected with no change in its interest rate structure, including a negative 0.5% deposit rate since a 10-basis point cut last September. The Bank will continue quantitative stimulus of EUR 20 billion per month and, as previously announced by President Lagarde, is beginning a […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Coronavirus Spreading and Three Central Banks Review Monetary Policy
January 23, 2020
Share prices slumped another 2.8% in China, 1.5% in Hong Kong, 1.0% in Japan, 0.9% in South Korea, and 0.6% in Australia and Singapore as the deadly pneumonia-like disease centered in Asia claimed more victims. Share prices in Europe are so far today down 0.4% in Germany and 0.3% in the U.K. and Switzerland but […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Canada Maintains Overnight Interest Rate Target at 1.75%
January 22, 2020
This month’s meeting of Canadian monetary policymakers coincided with the release of an updated quarterly Monetary Policy Report. The released policy statement announcing that the key interest rate is being kept at 1.75% acknowledges a softer-than-anticipated patch of economic growth in late 2019 due to a number of factors including strikes, inventory adjustments, poor weather […] More
Central Bank Watch
Unexpected Central Bank Rate Cut in Malaysia
January 22, 2020
Bank Negara Malaysia became the third major central bank within a week to cut its key interest rate following moves last Thursday by the South African Reserve Bank and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. BNM’s key interest rate was cut 25 basis points to 2.75%, its lowest level in almost nine years. […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Stronger Pound and a Central Bank Rate Cut in Malaysia
January 22, 2020
The dollar declined 0.7% against sterling but is narrowly mixed against other major currencies today. Stronger-than-expected British labor statistics released yesterday seemingly reduce the likelihood of further monetary stimulus by the Bank of England. Today’s batch of U.K. economic data releases produced a 5-month high in the orders component of the monthly CBI industrial trends […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Japan Leaves Policy Settings Unchanged
January 21, 2020
This month’s Bank of Japan meeting of the Policy Board concluded with no change in policy settings and the release of the quarterly Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices which includes a perplexing mix of upgraded growth forecasts but downgraded estimates of future core inflation. The announcement of no policy change after four hours and […] More
