Central Bank Watch
South African Monetary Policy on Hold
January 24, 2013
The repo rate of the South African Reserve Bank will remain at 5.0%, its multi-decade low since a 50 basis point cut last July. The benchmark interest rate was previously reduced by 50 bps in 2008, 450 bps in 2009, and 150 bps in 2010 but not at all in 2011 and just once in […] More
Central Bank Watch
Filipino Central Bank Maintains Key Policy Rates but Fine Tunes SDA Facility
January 24, 2013
The overnight borrowing and lending rates of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas were left at 3.5% and 5.5%. These were cut four times during 2012 — in January, March, July and October most recently — each time by 25 basis points. The Monetary Committee’s statement called inflation prospects “manageable, noting inflation is in the lower half […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Drop in Yen and Share Price of Apple
January 24, 2013
The yen has declined 1.0% against the dollar. Japan posted another monthly and annual trade deficit. Apple shares slumped some 10% following news of weaker revenue growth. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland entered its second day. The HSBC Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to a 24-month high of 51.9 in January according […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Canada to Tighten Later than Imagined Earlier
January 23, 2013
Canada’s overnight interest rate target, which has been at 1.0% since a 25-basis point hike in early September 2010, was left at that level and accompanied by a statement that declared “any such modest withdrawal of monetary policy stimulus is less imminent than previously anticipated.” The more dovish picture reflects downward revisions to GDP growth […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Eye on the U.K.
January 23, 2013
Sterling hasn’t reacted much to news out of Britain, edging 0.1% higher against the dollar. Prime Minister Cameron’s delayed speech on Britain’s relationship to the EU promised an in/out referendum by December 2017 if Conservatives are reelected. He like Britain to stay in the EU but only if the rules of its relationship to the […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey Cuts Overnight Interest Rates
January 22, 2013
While keeping the one-week benchmark repo rate unchanged at 5.5%, Turkish monetary officials reduced the overnight lending rate to 8.75% from 9.0% and the overnight borrowing rate to 4.75% from 5.0%. At the prior meeting on December 18, the repo rate was changed for the first time in sixteen months, dropping 25 basis points. Following […] More
Uncategorized
Bank of Japan Review
January 22, 2013
Reaction to this month’s eagerly awaited central bank meeting has been mixed. Some analysts have stressed that the accommodative stance was strengthened for a fourth time since September and that the Bank of Japan, like the Fed, has tied the duration of quantitative easing to future economic trends, not some pre-announced date in the future. […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Yen Reacts Adversely after BoJ Decisions
January 22, 2013
The yen lost 1.1% on balance against the dollar overnight. The U.S. currency is otherwise down 0.6% against the kiwi, 0.5% versus the Australian dollar, 0.4% relative to the Swissie, 0.3% against sterling, and 0.1% against the euro. The yuan and loonie are unchanged against the greenback. Share prices fell by 1.1% in the Philippines, […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Historic Bank of Japan Two-Day Policy Board Meeting Began
January 21, 2013
Currency markets will lack U.S. leadership today. It’s Martin Luther King Day, and attention will be fixed on the Obama inaugural speech. A warning directed at China by U.S. Secretary of State Clinton against a unilateral action in the Sino-Japanese Island dispute drew criticism from China’s Foreign Ministry. Euro area finance ministers began a two-day […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Mexico’s Overnight Lending Rate Left at 4.5%
January 18, 2013
By central banking standards, Mexican monetary policy has been uncharacteristically steady for the past 3-1/2 years. Over the first seven months of 2009, the Bank of Mexico’s reference interest rate was lowered by a total of 375 basis points from 8.25% to 4.50%, but the last of those cuts, a 25-bp reduction in July, was […] More
