Central Bank Watch
Bank Rossii
December 24, 2011
The Russian refinancing rate was cut to 8.0% from 8.25% on Friday. 2011 had begun with the central bank in tightening mode when 25-bp increases in the benchmark interest rate were implemented in both February and April. As summer began, the expressed bias was still restrictive, but priorities had switched during the summer. Nonetheless, the […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Next Week
December 24, 2011
Next week, the final one of the ill-fated year 2011, begins with the observance of Christmas that will close most markets on Monday and some until Wednesday. The event and data release calendar is light. Scheduled U.S. releases include the Case Shiller home price index, the Richmond Fed manufacturing index, midwestern regional purchasing manager manufacturing […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Continuing Concerns over Europe at the Christmas Break
December 23, 2011
A narrowly mixed dollar has risen 0.3% against the Swiss franc, 0.2% versus sterling and 0.1% against the euro but fallen 0.2% against the Australia dollar and 0.1% relative to the loonie. The kiwi is steady. Markets continue to fear announced European credit rating downgrades. S&P has still not dropped the French shoe. Stocks are […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey Holds Its Fire
December 22, 2011
Officials at Turkey’s central bank left all policy settings unchanged including the 5.75% one-week repo rate. A statement released today presents a mixed set of objectives and gives little clue to the timing of subsequent actions. Tight monetary policy should be maintained for a while in order to keep inflation outlook consistent with the medium […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Trading Winding Down as Blood is Spilt in Iraq
December 22, 2011
The dollar is narrowly mixed, showing rises of 0.4% against the Swiss franc, 0.2% versus the yen and euro, and 0.1% against the loonie and sterling. The dollar has lost 0.3% against the kiwi after better than expected New Zealand GDP growth was reported, and the greenback has also dipped 0.1% relative to the Aussie […] More
Central Bank Watch
Czech National Bank: No Change
December 21, 2011
The two-week Czech repo rate, 0.75% since May 2010, has been left unchanged after the final policy meeting of 2011. The result was as expected. A statement on the central bank web site speaks of both upwardly skewed risks to inflation and market interest rates and intensifying risks toward lower economic activity and a depreciating […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Japan: No Policy Change but an Assessment Downgrade
December 21, 2011
After meeting of five hours and 43 minutes over two day in its last scheduled policy vote of 2011, the Bank of Japan Policy Board decided unanimously (9-0) to keep the overnight uncollateralized money rate target range at zero to 0.1% and the size of the asset purchase plan, which was last raised in October, […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Better Market Tone of Yesterday Holding So Far… A Big ECB 3-Year Infusion of Bank Liquidity Helped
December 21, 2011
Equities in the Pacific Rim mostly rose, advancing 4.6% in Taiwan, 3.4% in South Korea and India, 2.1% in Australia, 2.3% in Singapore, 1.9% in Hong Kong, 1.5% in Japan and 1.4% in Malaysia. An exception to the trend was a 1.6% drop in Chinese share prices, but in Europe, stocks have recovered by a […] More
Deeper Analysis
U.S., Canadian and Euro Area CPI Inflation and Some Thoughts on Deficit Reduction
December 20, 2011
Whereas on-year total U.S. consumer price inflation in November of 3.4% was a half percentage point above the Canadian pace of 2.9%, those neighboring North American economies had similar underlying or “core” inflation rates of 2.2% and 2.1%, respectively. Total inflation over the past five years averaged 2.3% per annum in the United States, 0.2 […] More
Central Bank Watch
Hungary Gets a Fifth Base Rate Increase
December 20, 2011
In response to heightened investor perceptions of Hungarian country risk, the Magyar Nemzeti’s base rate has been raised by 50 basis points for the second time in three weeks. Previous increases of 25 bps apiece were implemented in March and December of 2010 as well as January of this year. Moody’s cut its rating on […] More
