New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Bad Aussie Jobs Data and a Focus on Central Bank Meetings
August 7, 2014
The Australian dollar fell 0.9% overnight and to a 2-month low of USD 0.9259 after unexpected news that Australia’s jobless rate jumped 0.4 percentage points in July to a 12-year high of 6.4%. Employment had been forecast to rise over 10K but instead slipped by 0.3K due to a 14.8K slide in part-time workers. The […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Might the Dollar Finally Be Embarking on a Substantial Uptrend?
August 6, 2014
For some time now, the potential for significant dollar appreciation against other advanced country currencies has been widely apparent based on divergent monetary policies and the greater economic vulnerability of Europe and Japan to a geopolitical landscape that’s deteriorating by the the week. If the dollar is has begun a big move, these remain early […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Thailand Keeps Accommodative Policy Stance
August 6, 2014
Thailand’s Monetary Policy Committee sets interest rate policy. The benchmark interest rate has been at 2.0% since a 25-basis point cut announced on March 12 and decided by a thin vote of 4-3. That easing culminated six such moves, the first five of which were engineered in November 2011, January and November 2012, May 2013 […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Bad Market News on Several Fronts
August 6, 2014
Share prices fell 1.1% in Japan and are down by 3.0% in Italy, 2.0% in Spain, 1.5% in Germany, 1.2% in Britain and France, and 1.1% in Switzerland thus far. Earlier, stocks closed down 0.9% in India, 0.3% in China, Hong Kong, and South Korea and by 0.2% in New Zealand, Indonesia and Singapore. The […] More
Central Bank Watch
Reserve Bank of Australia
August 5, 2014
The released statement following the Board’s monthly policy meeting left the 11-month-old 2.5% Official Cash Rate unchanged and signaled that a rate change is still not in the near-term offing. Governor Stevens notes that sub-trend growth is assumed over the coming year mainly because of a significant decline in resource sector investment. Officials are unfazed […] More
Central Bank Watch
Reserve Bank of India’s Bi-Monthly Monetary Statement
August 5, 2014
The RBI’s repo rate was left at 8.0%, and the reverse repo rate will stay at 7.0%. But another 0.5 percentage point cut of the Statutory Liquidity Rate trims such to 22.5%. The statement released by Governor Rajan observes that “CPI inflation excluding food and fuel decelerated further, extending the decline that began in September […] More
Deeper Analysis
U.S. Economic Advantage versus Euro Area Widens for Fifth Straight Month
August 5, 2014
Euroland’s service-sector PMI increased 1.4 points to 54.2 in July. Since the U.S. comparable PMI rose nearly twice as much, however, the differential between the two indices widened 1.3 points to +4.5, and such was 5.5 points better than the spread of -1.0 in February. In conjunction with a 1.8-point widening of the manufacturing PMI […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Better Market Tone of Monday Still Holding
August 5, 2014
Service sector purchasing manager survey results for many economies and Ezone retail sales data are out. There have also been announced interest rate decisions from central banks in India and Australia. Investors now waiting for U.S. data and U.S. market leadership. The dollar has risen 0.3% against the loonie and Swiss franc, 0.2% versus the […] More
Central Bank Watch
Romania’s Monetary Policy Rate Lowered Again
August 4, 2014
From 10.25% at end-2008, Romania’s central bank interest rate had been cut by 225 basis points in 2009, 175 bps in 2010, 25 basis point in 2011, 75 bps in 2012, 125 bps in 2013 and 50 bps in the first quarter of 2014. That left the rate at 3.5%, where it stood for the […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Week Starts on a More Stable Footing
August 4, 2014
The dollar is unchanged against the euro, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, yuan and sterling. The dollar is also 0.1% firmer against the yen, loonie and kiwi. The 10-year German bund yield rose a basis point, while its Japanese and British counterparts are a basis point lower. A bailout of Portugal’s Banco Espinto Santo has been […] More
