U.S. current account
Busy Thursday Calendar for Central Bank Watchers
March 23, 2023
Wednesday belonged to the Federal Reserve, but no fewer than eight other central banks announced their interest rate decisions today. The Swiss National Bank’s policy interest rate was hiked 50 basis points to a 14-1/2 year high of 1.50%. Rate increases of 25 basis points were engineered by the Central Bank of Norway to 3.0%, […] More
Thursday Central Bank Derby Results in Japanese Forex Intervention, Many Interest Rate Hikes, and One Bizarre Cut
September 22, 2022
Net overnight movements in the dollar have ranged widely from a 1.8% plunge against the yen to a 1.1% rise versus the Swiss franc. In between, the dollar fell 0.3% versus the euro, Australian dollar, and sterling. After numerous rhetorical complaints by officials about the weakness of the yen, Japanese officials sold foreign currency directly […] More
Stagflationary Outlook Gaining Traction and Western Leaders in Brussels Plan Contingent Plans for Ukraine Crisis
March 24, 2022
The world’s attention today is on Brussels where U.S. President Biden will be meeting with NATO allies, the European Council of political leaders, and Other Group of Seven members. The meetings are meant to coordinate a response to Russia’s continuing invasion of Ukraine, where the use of Russian weapons of mass destruction appears increasingly probable. […] More
Volatile Markets as Investors Scramble to Assess Omicron Variant
December 21, 2021
Ten-year sovereign debt yields rose nine basis points overnight in the U.K., eight bps in Spain and Italy, seven bps in France, six bps in Germany, five bps in the United States and a basis point in Japan. The steep drop in stock markets was partially trimmed overnight, but equities still appear vulnerable. U.S. stock […] More
Equities Trying to Rebound and Dollar Slips a Bit Ahead of Wednesday’s FOMC Announcement
September 21, 2021
The dollar is down 0.15% against the DXY weighted index. Dollar/yen is unchanged from Monday’s closing level, and the greenback lost 0.1% overnight against the euro and sterling and 0.4% relative to the loonie and Swiss franc. U.S. stocks had suffered their steepest daily loss on Monday since May, and share prices in other markets […] More
Dollar Is a Touch Softer
June 23, 2021
The dollar is 0.1% softer against its DXY weighted index. The greenback slid 0.3% overnight against the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars, 0.2% versus sterling and 0.1% relative to the yuan but firmed 0.1% against the yen and is unchanged against the euro, Swiss franc and Turkish lira. Equity markets are mixed. Share prices […] More
Dollar Strengthens on Comparatively Better U.S. Economic and Vaccine Deployment Outlook
March 23, 2021
The dollar advanced broadly overnight by 1.8% against the New Zealand dollar, 1.4% relative to the Turkish lira, 1.0% versus the Australian dollar, 0.7% against the Mexican peso, 0.6% vis-a-vis the Swiss franc and sterling, 0.5% against the euro and 0.4% versus the Canadian dollar and on a trade-weighted basis. Investors are awaiting today’s releases of […] More
Mixed Signals this Friday
September 18, 2020
China’s Shanghai Composite equity index jumped 2.1%, but share prices fell 1.4% in New Zealand and 0.3% in Australia and India. Japan’s Nikkei rose only 0.2%, and Spanish stocks have so far dropped 1.2% on the day. The dollar climbed to another record high against the Turkish lira and shows a year-to-date advance of more […] More
Good Trade News but Unsettling Covid Developments
June 19, 2020
Share prices got a boost from an overnight report that China will step up purchases of U.S. agricultural goods. This comes after Thursday’s revelation in the Bolton tell-all book that Trump had solicited a boost in Chinese purchases to voter reelection support from the mid-west. Several populous U.S. states like California, Florida, and Texas continue […] More
Bracing for Impact But Investors Take a Pause
March 19, 2020
The count of identified global coronavirus infections (230,041) and deaths (9,386) has risen by 26,429 and 1,097 in the past 26 hours. Investors are getting a glimpse of just how bad the economic impact could be. The IFO Institute’s monthly index of Germany’s business climate fell 8.3 points in March to a 127-month low of […] More
