foreign exchange
March and First Quarter 2020 in Figures
March 31, 2020
Similar to February, the dollar’s net movements against the euro, yen, and Swiss franc were an oasis of stability amid the continuing financial market drama elsewhere. For the whole first quarter, the dollar was particularly well-bid against sterling and commodity-sensitive currencies like the Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian dollars. For central bank watchers, March was […] More
Market Hopes Hinging on a Big U.S. Fiscal Stimulus
March 24, 2020
Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. congress have still not reached agreement on fiscal policy, but markets are apparently more hopeful that it will get done soon. As a result, stock markets, commodity prices, and sovereign debt prices are up, while the dollar gave up some recent gains overnight. The global count of confirmed coronavirus […] More
January 2020 in Figures
January 31, 2020
The month of January presents another recent example of a time when key dollar pairs against the euro, yen, Swiss franc or sterling hardly moved on balance even as other financial markets underwent big changes. It was a month subjected to big distortions toward the end in the face of China’s rapidly spreading health crisis. […] More
December and 2019 in Figures
January 2, 2020
Equities performed spectacularly in 2019 as a whole and rose in December, too. Ten-year sovereign debt yields rose in December but fell in 2019. Three 25-basis point cuts were made in the federal funds target last year, reversing all by one of the four hikes done in 2018. Elsewhere, there was only a 10-basis point […] More
August in Figures
August 31, 2019
The most discussed financial market development of August is actually not depicted in the standard month in figures table below, and that was the inversion of the U.S. yield curve, which has been a pretty reliable leading indicator of a recession beginning 18-24 months later. Between the end of July and August 30th, the U.S. […] More
July 2019 in Figures
July 31, 2019
Even though only the Fed among major central banks cut interest rates in July, long-term interest rates declined in Europe but changed hardly at all over the course of the month in the United States, Canada, or Japan. The Fed’s 25-basis point interest rate cut announced on the final day of the month was its […] More
Stronger Dollar
July 16, 2019
The dollar strengthened overnight by 0.9% against sterling, 0.6% relative to the peso, 0.4% versus the euro and Swiss franc, 0.3% vis-a-vis the yen, 0.2% against the Aussie dollar and 0.1% versus the kiwi. In other euro cross-rate developments, sterling weakened to a half-year low against the common currency, but the Swiss franc is hovering […] More
June and the Second Quarter in Figures
June 28, 2019
Although the major central banks did not change their key short-term interest rates in the second quarter, global disinflation and decelerating economic growth depressed expected inflation and fanned speculation that monetary policies will be eased later in 2019. This in turn put downward pressure on long-term interest rates but incentivized share prices to climb. President […] More
May 2019 in Figures
June 1, 2019
The month of May exemplified the global interdependence national financial markets, and the unifying force was rising risk aversion. Whereas equities had climbed broadly in April, all the ones shown below dropped just about as sharply in May. Likewise, climbing 10-year sovereign debt yields in April were reversed last month, and except in the case […] More
Sovereign Debt Yields Rise Further
April 15, 2019
Ten-year sovereign debt yields rose overnight in Europe and Japan. Share prices climbed 1.4% in Japan, 0.9% in New Zealand, 0.7% in Taiwan, 0.5% in Indonesia, and 0.4% in India but fell 0.3% in China and Hong Kong. European equity markets are little changed. West Texas Intermediate oil dropped 1.1%, and Comex gold is trading […] More
