Central Bank Watch
Bank of England Decision Still Fairly Evenly Balanced
November 3, 2010
Why would the Bank of England even consider increasing its asset purchase program after learning that real GDP in the third quarter expanded 2.8% at an annualized rate with equally positive contributions from the production and services sectors? Moreover, the purchasing managers indices for manufacturing (up 1.4 points to 54.9 in October) and services (up […] More
Central Bank Watch
ECB’s Thursday Statement
November 3, 2010
ECB policymakers have fallen into the habit of holding off newsworthy policy revelations to their press conferences in March, June, September, and December when new forecasts are prepared, so this month’s statement doesn’t seem likely to break new ground. Where possible, President Jean-Claude Trichet can afford to accentuate positive things. Purchasing manager survey results, national […] More
Central Bank Watch
Market Values at the Time of Previous FOMC Announcements
November 3, 2010
Beginning with Chairman Bernanke’s address at the Jackson Hole annual symposium almost ten weeks ago, Fed officials have carefully prepared the public and financial markets for a second dose of quantitative easing. A majority of policymakers, but not all, believe this controversial action is warranted because its two mandated target variables, employment and core inflation, […] More
Central Bank Watch
Iceland’s 13th Central Bank Rate Cut Since March 2009
November 3, 2010
Sedlabanki reduced all its key interest rates by 75 basis points, including the seven-day collateralized lending rate to 5.5%. Following an IMF mandate, that rate was hiked by 300 basis points to 18.0% in October 2008 around the time that many other central banks began to ease policy aggressively. Six cuts totaling 800 basis points […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Scant Dollar Reaction to Election as Investors Await FOMC Statement
November 3, 2010
The dollar is off 0.1% against the euro, unchanged relative to the Swissy, and up 0.2% versus the yen. Against commodity-sensitive currencies, the greenback firmed 0.1% against the Aussie dollar but eased 0.2% against the Canadian dollar and by 0.4% relative to the kiwi. The dollar lost 0.7% against sterling and 0.1% against the yuan. […] More
