Iceland
A 100-Basis Point Icelandic Rate Cut on August 18th
August 24, 2010
A full percentage point reduction of the Icelandic benchmark interest rate to 7.0% last week was twice as much as analysts were anticipating and justified as follows: Lower inflation, lower inflation expectations, a stronger króna, and the prospect of more rapid disinflation than previously expected provide the scope for a larger interest rate reduction than [...] More
Icelandic Central Bank Rates Cut 50 Basis Points
June 23, 2010
Sedlabanki has implemented the fourth rate cut of 50 bps this year and the tenth reduction since March 2009. The seven-day lending rate is now 8.0%, 1000 basis points lower than such had been from October 2008 until March 2009 after securing aid from the IMF. The six reductions in 2009 had totaled 800 basis [...] More
Iceland Gets Third Interest Rate Cut of 2010
May 5, 2010
Sedlandi Bank, Iceland’s central bank, has implemented another 50-basis point reduction of the seven-day collateralized lending rate to 8.5%. Prior cuts of the same amount were announced on March 17 and January 27. An IMF aid package in the autumn of 2008 mandated a sharp increase in the key rate to 18%, but last year [...] More
Central Bank of Iceland Cuts Rates by 50 Basis Points
March 17, 2010
The eighth Icelandic rate cut in twelve months was announced today, reducing the seven-day lending rate by a further 50 basis points to 9.0%, exactly half of the peak level from October 2008 to March 2009. A statement from monetary officials reads similarly to that of January 27 when officials cut by rates also by [...] More
Iceland’s Central Bank Eases Somewhat Unexpectedly
January 27, 2010
Much of the statement released by the Central Bank of Iceland after a 50-basis point cut in key interest rates is devoted to the ongoing debt dispute and uncertainty over the country’s future access to foreign capital markets. The debt crisis took a turn for the worse when Iceland’s president recently vetoed Icesave legislation on [...] More
Awaiting FOMC Statement and Obama’s State of the Union Speech
January 27, 2010
With attention on the FOMC and tonight’s address from President Obama, stocks fell further and the dollar is mixed. Equities lost 2.9% in India, 1.6% in Thailand and Australia, 1.4% in China, 1.2% in Singapore, 0.7% in South Korea and Japan, and 0.5% in Indonesia and Taiwan. In Europe, the Paris Cac, British Footsie, and [...] More
