Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Next Week
December 19, 2008
The holiday-abbreviated week ahead will mostly feature the usual end-of-month barrage of Japanese monthly indicators covering corporate service prices, customs trade, retail sales, household spending, consumer prices, employment and unemployment, auto output, industrial production, service-sector workers’ sentiment, and the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index. The BOJ monthly report and quarterly business sentiment are due, too. Japan […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Weekly Foreign Exchange Insights: December 19th
December 19, 2008
‘Twas six days before Christmas and oil’s free-falling, Shoppers are broke and the economy’s appalling. The dollar has stumbled, China’s yuan is stalled, The yen’s on the high road, but sterling’s been mauled. Last week saw the most volatile currency market price action since right after the Plaza Accord of September 22, 1985, when G5 […] More
Canadian CPI Exceeded Expectations in November
December 19, 2008
Canadian consumer prices slid 0.3% unadjusted in November but rose 0.5% in seasonally adjusted terms. Seasonally adjusted consumer prices had been unchanged month-on-month in both September and October. On-year CPI inflation fell to 2.0% — at target but not yet below — from 2.6% in October, 3.4% in September, and 3.5% in August. Disinflation was […] More
Central Bank Watch
National Bank of Denmark Cuts Lending Rate to 3.75% from 4.25%
December 19, 2008
Denmark’s central bank took advantage of the krone’s better tone to reduce the spread between its benchmark rate, now 3.75%, and the ECB’s refinancing rate, which is presently at 2.50%. See the explanation by clicking here. The new spread between the Danish and Euroland rates of 125 basis points remains a full percentage point higher than […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Japan Announces Several Steps to Ease Credit Conditions
December 19, 2008
Actions announced by the BOJ to alleviate credit strains and counteract a rapidly deepening recession went beyond what the market had been anticipating but are not surprising against the backdrop of other central banks recently getting ahead of the curve of market expectations with big rate cuts. Japan is grappling with one unique problem, a […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
New Overnight Developments Abroad: Bank of Japan Easing Steps Surpassed Expectations
December 19, 2008
The yen strengthened 0.4% against the dollar and much more versus the euro in spite of Bank of Japan actions. The dollar advanced 1.8% against the euro, 1.7% versus the Canadian dollar and Swiss franc, 1.5% against the kiwi, 0.5% against the Aussie dollar and 0.2% relative to sterling. Asian stocks closed mixed. Nikkei -0.9%. […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Executive Recap
December 18, 2008
Dollar posted 24-hour gains from Wednesday close of 3.2% against sterling, 2.3% against the yen, and 1.0% against the euro. Oil hit a low of $35.98 today, 10.2% lower than yesterday’s close. DJIA fell 2.5%. S&P 500 off 2.1%. Nasdaq down 1.7%. Trading volumes thinning ahead of the holidays. Chatter that Chinese central bank was […] More
Currency Markets in the News
Bank of Japan Quantitative Easing Then and Now
December 18, 2008
The Fed’s interest rate is now effectively zero, and the the operational target has shifted to quantitative criteria that can be monitored by rapid growth in its balance sheet. The Bank of Japan’ s two-day policy meeting will likely end with an announcement tonight of a target rate cut of 20 basis points to 0.1% […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
New Overnight Developments Abroad: Verbal Trashing of Yen
December 18, 2008
Japan’s finance minister asserted that officials have the means to halt yen appreciation, sending Japan’s currency down 1.4% against the dollar. The dollar otherwise fell 1.9% against the Swiss franc, 1.7% against the kiwi, 1.3% against the euro and 0.6% against the Canadian dollar. Sterling, off 0.2% versus the greenback, remains weak. The Swissy’s lead […] More
Central Bank Watch
Norwegian Central Bank Rate Reduced to 3% from 4.75%
December 17, 2008
The Norges Bank became the latest to exceed market expectations in the 175-bp size of its key rate cut. The move followed reductions of 50 basis points each on October 15th and 29th, bringing to 275 basis points the amount of rate reduction in the space of nine weeks. As with many other central banks, […] More
