Deeper Analysis
Many Things Are Depressing U.S. Job Creation, and Some Are Paradoxical
September 20, 2011
One reason for investor euphoria in the latter 1990s about long-term U.S. economic prospects was a pick-up in productivity growth, that is output per man-hour worked. Productivity tends to be a predictor of future changes in the standard of living, and so equity markets enjoyed an impressive rally in the years before 2000 when America’s […] More
Central Bank Watch
Wait and See Attitude at Hungary’s Central Bank
September 20, 2011
As analysts anticipated, policymakers at the Magyar Nemzeti Bank left their two-week deposit rate at 6.0%. Conflicting forces stalemated their thinking. The growth outlook has worsened substantially, prompting officials to halve their 2012 GDP growth forecast to 1.5% and to become more confident about lower inflation in the future. On the other hand, the Hungarian […] More
Central Bank Watch
Turkish Monetary Policy Left Unchanged with a Bias Toward Ease
September 20, 2011
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey retained a 5.75% one-week repo rate and kept overnight lending and borrowing rates at 9% and 5%, respectively. During the Great Recession, Turkey’s key rate was cut from 18.75% to 7.0% over the year between November 2008 and November 2009. Monetary policy subsequently had tightened in late […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Italian Sovereign Debt Rating Downgraded by S&P
September 20, 2011
European equities rebounded after Monday’s drop despite more unsettling news from the region. S&P downgraded Italian long-term sovereign debt to a rating of A from A+. A reassessment by Moody’s is thought also to be likely. Press reports surfaced that the German industrial company Siemens withdrew half a trillion euros recently from one of the […] More
