Larry's Blog
Romney D Finally Getting Respect
February 2, 2012
With a landslide primary victory in Florida, which along with New York is tied with the third most electoral college votes (29 each) in the nation, Mitt Romney is finally getting the due respect he needs to challenge President Obama in November. It is said that money can’t buy one love, but it certainly helps […] More
Central Bank Watch
Czech National Bank Policy Still on Hold
February 2, 2012
The two-week repo rate has been pinned at 0.75% since a 25-basis point cut twenty months ago culminated an eight-move easing that also included 150 bps of cuts in 2008 and 125 bps of cuts in 2009. By a 6-0 unanimous vote with one absentee, the CNB’s Board decided to keep the rate at its […] More
Central Bank Watch
National Bank of Romania Implements Another Rate Reduction
February 2, 2012
Romanian monetary authorities implemented a twelfth interest rate cut as a majority of forecasters expected, reducing the main policy rate by 25 basis points to a cyclical low for the move of 5.5%. The prior two 25-bp cuts were announced in November and January. There were also five reductions totaling 225 basis points in 2009 […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Quiet Start to Groundhog’s Day — Eye on Bernanke
February 2, 2012
The dollar shows minimal overnight movement. It’s up 0.2% and 0.1% against the Swiss franc and euro but down 0.1% relative to the yen, loonie, Aussie dollar, kiwi and yuan. Sterling is stable against the greenback. There were some big stock market rallies in Asia, but European bourses show little change after poor Spanish labor […] More
