Central Bank Watch
Filipino Central Bank To Phase Out Liquidity-Enhancing Measures But Leaves Key Overnight Borrowing Rate at 4.0%
March 11, 2010
Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipines will reduce the peso rediscounting budget from P60 billion to P40 billion but has left its key borrowing and lending rates steady at 4.0% and 6.0%, their respective levels after cuts totaling 200 basis points and administered between December 2008 and July 2009. After the final cut last July, officials announced […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Korea Policy Unchanged
March 11, 2010
South Korea’s Monetary Policy Committee kept its key interest rate at 2.0% as expected. Cuts totaling 100 basis points in August 2008, 175 bps in December 2008 and 50 bps in February 2009 slashed the rate from 5.25% to 2.0%, where it has been ever since. A statement on the Bank of Korea website retains the […] More
Deeper Analysis
U.S. and Canadian Trends in Trade
March 11, 2010
The $37.3 billion U.S. trade deficit in January interrupted a rising trend seen in recent months. The January gap was near to the average shortfall of $36.3 billion last quarter, worse than the mean monthly deficit last year of $31.6 billion but much narrower than the average 2008 gap of $58.0 billion per month. Merchandise […] More
Deeper Analysis
U.S., Japanese, Ezone, and British GDP Growth in 4Q09
March 11, 2010
With revised Japanese figures out today, a reasonably representative comparison of growth in the four main advanced economies last quarter can be made and are summarized below, where C is personal consumption, I is business investment, G is government expenditures, and X represents exports. The percentage changes conform to the U.S. custom of annualization, that […] More
Central Bank Watch
September Timing of a First Swiss Rate Hike Much More Probable Than June
March 11, 2010
The Swiss National Bank retained a 0.25% target on three-month Libor within a 0.0-0.75% corridor. Last September, officials served notice that the present expansionary stance cannot be maintained for the entire forecast horizon without compromising medium- and long-term price stability, and quantitative easing was ended last December. Today’s new quarterly SNB Monetary Policy Assessment does […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
All Quiet on the Currency Front
March 11, 2010
The dollar shows no overnight change against the yen, euro and Swiss franc. It’s up 0.1% against the Canadian and New Zealand dollars but off 0.4% against sterling and 0.1% relative to the Australian dollar. Aside from a 1.0% rise of the Japanese Nikkei, there’s been scant movement in stocks as well, limited to +0.7% […] More
