May 1, 2026
There’s little report as the new month gets underway. Most markets in Europe and Asia are closed due to labor day holidays, so there’s been only a trickle of manufacturing purchasing manager surveys and other data releases around the world. Today marks the 60-day threshold whereby the U.S. congress is obligated to declare all wars, […] Read Article
May 1, 2026
Central Banks: Monetary stances will be reviewed in Australia, Sweden, Norway, Mexico, Poland, Malaysia and the Czech Republic. Fed officials with speaking engagements included Williams, Goolsbee, Musalem, and Hammack. Minutes of the Bank of Japan’s March Board meeting and the quarterly Reserve Bank of Australia Monetary Policy Statement will be published. Holidays and Special Events: […] Read Article
April 30, 2026
both the ECB and Bank of England interest rates were left unchanged as had been expected. The ECB deposit rates has been at 2.0% since a 25-basis point cut last June, while the Bank of England’s last rate change (also of 25 basis points) was done in December to 3.75%. The Bank of England’s decision […] Read Article
April 30, 2026
A second full month has now passed without an end to the Middle East war that had been projected initially as likely to last only a few weeks. In March with world energy prices soaring like it was 1974, 1979 or the late summer of 1990, financial markets experienced a significant drop in the appetite […] Read Article
April 30, 2026
One economy where there has been an interest rate change involves the Brazilian Selic rate, which was sliced yesterday by 25 basis points to 14.5%. An initial easing of 25 bps had also been done in March, prior to which the Central Bank of Brazil‘s rate had stayed at 15.0% since last June. Considering that […] More
April 30, 2026
Frustrated with the continuing effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump is reportedly soliciting advice on the options for resuming military strikes against Iran, which he had hoped to avoid. The price of WTI oil briefly poked above $110.0 per barrel overnight but is quoted currently at $104.44, down 2.3% on balance. With […] More
April 29, 2026
The significant change in this FOMC statement from the last one involves the votes. Once again only Governor Miran dissented in favor of a 25-basis point cut of the federal funds target. The eleven other votes favored leaving the target unchanged at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4% where such has been since December. In addition, three of […] More
April 29, 2026
The last FOMC meeting occurred only 2-1/2 weeks into the Middle Eastern war. Seven additional weeks have elapsed, and a war that was not expected to last more than five weeks, if that, is still unresolved. A ceasefire has quelled outright conflict but the economic pressure points of the war — the global price of […] More
April 29, 2026
The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to announce an unchanged federal funds target range of 3.50-3.75% at 14:00 EDT today. This is the last scheduled meeting of the Jay Powell chairmanship, although his Trump-nominated successor Kevin Warsh has not yet been confirmed by the senate. The last interest rate change was made in December. […] More
April 28, 2026
The price West Texas Intermediate oil, now at $100.17 per barrel, is almost 4% above Monday’s closing level. Iran’s proposal, which addressed reopening the Strait of Hormuz but defers discussion of its nuclear development, never realistically had much chance of gaining Trump’s favor. The U.S. position has conditioned any reopening of the Strait on steps […] More
April 27, 2026
There’s been an unexpected decision by officials at the State Bank of Pakistan to crank up their interest rate to 11.5% from 10.5%. Pakistan’s central bank rate crested at 22.0% for a whole year until June 2024 and as CPI inflation imploded from a 38.0% in May 2023 all the way to just 0.3% in […] More
April 27, 2026
(142) The attention of financial markets quickly moved past the the failed politically motivated assassination attempt at the U.S. press corps gala on Saturday night and is focused squarely back on the Middle East war, now in its ninth week. The fresh development in that regard is a report that Iran is offering a new […] More
April 24, 2026
Central Banks: A busy week for central bank watchers lies ahead, with scheduled monetary policy reviews in the United States, Japan, Euroland, U.K., Canada, Hungary, Ukraine, Thailand, Brazil, Pakistan and Kyrgyztan. The British, Canadian and Japanese meetings coincide with updated in-depth quarterly reports. Post-meeting press conferences will be held by Fed Chairman Powell, Bank of […] More
April 24, 2026
As expected, the Central Bank of Russia cut its key rate by a further 50 basis points to 14.5%. This was the fifth such reduction since October and brings the cumulative drop to 650 basis points since this cycle began in June 2025. At the newly reduced interest rate level, monetary policy remains restrictive when […] More
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