Draghi
Many Central Banks Meet — Most Retain Existing Policy Stances
May 8, 2014
Central banks in Malaysia, Indonesia, Norway, and the Philippines left key interest rates unchanged at 3.0%, 7.5%, 1.5% and and 3.5%, respectively. All these actions were as expected. The National Bank of Serbia, in contrast, cut its key policy interest rate to 9.0% from 9.5%. Next up is the Bank of England, then the ECB […] More
Further Rise of Share Prices Ahead of ECB Event
March 6, 2014
Stocks have risen 1.6% in Japan, 1.1% in India, 0.9% in Taiwan, 0.8% in New Zealand, 0.6% in Hong Kong and Indonesia, and 0.5% in China. In Europe, equities are up so far by 1.3% in Spain, 0.7% in France, 0.3% in Germany and Switzerland, and 0.2% in Britain. The dollar fell overnight by 0.8% […] More
Aussie and New Zealand Dollars Weaken while Euro and Swissie Strengthen
November 22, 2013
The U.S. dollar has risen 0.7% and 0.6% against the Oz and kiwi but is 0.3% softer relative to the euro and Swiss franc. The dollar also climbed 0.3% relative to the loonie and is unchanged vis-a-vis the yen, yuan and sterling. Share prices rose 0.9% in Australia, 0.6% in South Korea, 0.5% in Hong […] More
More Productive U.S. Budget Talks???
October 10, 2013
There were unconfirmed overnight press reports that budget negotiators were showing greater willingness to compromise on a temporary extension of the budget ceiling that would push the drop dead date a month or so past mid-October. Meanwhile, the release of more scheduled U.S. data has been delayed. Brazilian monetary authorities lifted the Selic interest rate […] More
Janet Yellen’s Day
October 9, 2013
Press reports emerged overnight that President Obama will announce today his nomination of Fed Vice-Chairperson Yellen to succeed Chairman Bernanke, whose term expires at the end of January 2014. Yellen has extensive training as an economist and experience in the Federal Reserve System. While she has an image in market circles for being dovish because […] More
ECB Day
October 2, 2013
This month’s meeting and press conference of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council is scheduled today rather than on the customary first Thursday because Germany is closed tomorrow for Unity Day. The ECB is located in Frankfurt. No change in interest rates is expected, and no significant new revelations are anticipated, either. Two central banks […] More
Markets React to Summers’ Withdrawal, Syrian Agreement, Bavarian Election and Draghi Remarks
September 16, 2013
Larry Summers took his name out of contention to be the next Federal Reserve chairman. So has Tim Geithner. Presumably Janet Yellen will get the nod, but Donald Kohn remains a dark horse in the race. Conclusion is that normalization of Fed policy will proceed more slowly has lifted stocks and depressed bond yields. The […] More
Divergent Equities in Europe and Asia
July 8, 2013
In the Pacific Rim, stocks dropped sharply by 3.7% in Indonesia, 2.8% in China and the Philippines, 1.3% in Hong Kong, 1.4% in Taiwan and 0.9% in South Korea and India. Australian share prices closed 0.7% lower, and Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1.4%. But in Europe, equities have risen 2.3% in Germany, 2.0% in France, 1.6% […] More
All Eyes on the FOMC
June 18, 2013
Whether, when, and by how much to taper quantitative stimulus is the question of the day, as the FOMC meets on the first day of a 2-day meeting. Creating even more uncertainty, President Obama while attending the G8 summit indicated that Chairman Bernanke had not originally planned to stay in that post as long as […] More
Focus on Central Banks and Stock Market Behavior
June 6, 2013
Share prices fell sharply in Asia but are up in Europe. Equities dropped 1.5% in Singapore and South Korea, 1.3% in China, 1.1% in Australia and Hong Kong and 0.9% in Japan. Stocks are up 0.9% in Spain, 0.4% in France, and 0.2% in Germany but unchanged in the U.K. and 0.3% softer in Italy. […] More
