foreign exchange
July 2020 in Figures
August 1, 2020
July was the weakest month for the dollar in practically ten years. The resulting improvement in U.S. price competitiveness resulted large U.S. equity price advances that were not experienced by European and Japanese stock markets. Dollar vulnerability also generated strong demand for gold, whose price soared nearly 10%. Late in the month gold briefly surpassed […] More
June and Second Quarter 2020 in Figures
June 30, 2020
The second quarter will be best remembered for the strong advances of stock markets after the first quarter’s debacle. Share price strength continued into June. There were no central bank interest changes in the countries featured in this update during the quarter, and net changes in 10-year sovereign debt yields were very small in June. […] More
May 2020 in Review
May 30, 2020
With the central bank interest rates featured below already historically low, none as in April were lowered during May. Moreover the sharp declines of ten-year sovereign debt yields in April were partly reversed in several instances this past months. The talk of plans around the world to begin loosening stay-at-home restrictions lifted equity markets sharply, […] More
April 2020 in Figures
April 30, 2020
Imposed business shutdowns around the world in March had severely rattled financial market confidence, sending share prices sharply lower and the dollar significantly upward. The feared negative impact on economic data was visibly confirmed during April, but forward-looking investors found hope in the policy response of low interest rates and fiscal support. Although long-term interest […] More
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
