February 26, 2026
Nvidia announced solid earnings and revenues after yesterday’s session-ending bell, but its share price did not rise in response. That set the stage for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng to lose 1.4% today, and markets in Indonesia and Singapore also absorbed losses. In contrast, stock markets in Australia and Japan rose by 0.5% today, and those […] Read Article
February 20, 2026
Central Banks: Monetary policy stances will be reviewed in South Korea, Israel, Thailand, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan and Jamaica. Goolsbee and Musalem of the Federal Reserve, Takada of the Bank of Japan and Governor Bullock of the Reserve Bank of Australia have public speaking engagements. Events and Holidays: U.S. President Trump presents his State of the Union […] Read Article
February 25, 2026
The benchmark interest rate at the Bank of Thailand was cut to 1.0% today from 1.25%. This cut had not been anticipated by analysts, since a 25-bp cut had been also done at the prior policy review in December. The new rate level is the lowest since October 2022. The decision to cut was not […] Read Article
February 16, 2026
There has been a proliferation in recent months of articles pondering if the U.S. currency might be going down a path leading to the end of its hegemonic role as the world’s reserve currency without equal, a function that bestows many unique beneficial advantages on the U.S. economy. These examinations are married to forecasts that […] Read Article
February 25, 2026
Aside from a 0.5% overnight rise against the yen and a 0.5% drop versus the Australian dollar, the U.S. currency is narrowly mixed, and the DXY weighted dollar index is unchanged from Tuesday’s closing value. Major U.S. equity index rises of about 0.5% in pre-open futures trading show smaller increases than many other stock exchanges. […] More
February 24, 2026
The National Bank of Krygyzstan’s policy interest rate was hiked late yesterday by another full percentage point and now becomes 12.0%, its highest level since April 2024. That was the fourth increase since April 2024, bringing the cumulative climb since then to three full percentage points. CPI inflation in the economy exceeds the 5-7% target […] More
February 24, 2026
Holidays welcoming the lunar year of the horse are over. Japan’s market reopened too after Monday’s Emperor’s Birthday holiday, and folks in the northeast corridor of the United States are digging out from a brutal blizzard and stumbling back to work. Fortunately, this Tuesday has been short on data and fresh news. President Trump will […] More
February 23, 2026
Today’s reduction to 5.50% from 5.75% was the first cut in nine months. It was agreed upon unanimously by members of the Bank of Jamaica‘s Monetary Policy Committee and, according to a released statement, justified because “the direct impact of Hurricane Melissa on inflation was less severe than initially anticipated. A faster-than-expected improvement in agricultural […] More
February 23, 2026
(151) Trading volume in the U.S. today will be muted by a blizzard affecting tens of millions in the Northeast corridor. Stock markets in Japan and China were shut by the Emperor’s Birthday holiday and the tail end of Lunar New Year observances, respectively. The Middle East is on high alert of what appears to […] More
February 20, 2026
The dollar was narrowly mixed just prior to the eagerly awaited twin-bill of U.S. economic data releases, unchanged against the euro and loonie, 0.3% higher relative to New Zealand’s currency, 0.3% stronger against the Mexican peso, and 0.1% firmer relative to the yen and Swiss franc. Ten-year sovereign debt yields had fallen overnight by three […] More
February 19, 2026
There has been another interest rate cut at the Central Bank of the Philippines, the sixth in a row for this monetary authority that reviews its policy stance on a bi-monthly basis. At 4.25%, the new rate level will be back to its lowest level since November 2022 and 225 basis points below the 6.5% […] More
February 19, 2026
Equity markets in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and India are showing losses so far this Thursday that range between 0.8% and 1.5%, and futures trading in major U.S. indices point to a lower open in the United States. Exceptions to this trend include South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, while several other […] More
February 18, 2026
The staff’s inflation forecast was slightly higher, on balance, than the one prepared for the December meeting, reflecting the expectation that resource utilization would be tighter and the path of core import prices would be higher than previously projected. Risks to the inflation projection continued to be viewed as skewed to the upside: With inflation […] More
February 18, 2026
The dollar is mostly narrowly mixed today, but a 0.8% rise against the New Zealand dollar (aka the kiwi) has been an exception. The U.S. DOW, SPX and Nasdaq in futures trading are around 0.3%. Many Asian stock markets remain closed for the extended lunar year holiday. Those that were open tended to rise, including […] More
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