Deeper Analysis
April in Figures
April 30, 2015
There was a huge rebound in West Texas Intermediate oil prices during April, but the level at end-month was still way below where such was trading last June. Comex gold and short-term interest rates were little changed, in contrast. The dollar posted across-the-board losses in the month. After today’s sharp losses, U.S. stocks were only […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Mexico Keeps 3.0% Overnight Lending Rate
April 30, 2015
From a peak of 8.25%, Mexico’s key interest rate earlier had been cut by 375 basis points during the first seven months of 2009 and by another 150 bps between March 2013 and June 2014. There haven’t been any changes since mid-2014, and a statement released after today’s policy meeting defends the current stance because […] More
Larry's Blog
U.S. Real Growth and Technology
April 30, 2015
The span of time since Y2K constitutes a “long run,” and it has seen a proliferation of new electronic devices transforming the world as we know it. U.S. inventions have driven much of this technology revolution, yet U.S. real economic growth has counter-intuitively slowed greatly. It’s not that America’s best and brightest have done a […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Russia Cuts Key Interest Rate by Greater-than-Forecast 150 Basis Points
April 30, 2015
Following up on reductions of 200 basis points on January 30 and 100 bps announced March 13, the Central Bank of Russia’s key repo rate was slashed today to 12.5% from 14.0%. This brings the drop to 450 basis points and trims last year’s cumulative tightening of 11.5 percentage points by 39%. A statement was […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Japan Left Monetary Policy Stance Unchanged and Released New Forecasts
April 30, 2015
The end-April single-day four hour board meeting released two statements. The first release merely reaffirmed the parameters of its quantitative and qualitative stimulus, which has goals of a) expanding both the monetary base and BoJ holdings of Japanese government bonds by 80 trillion yen per year (about $670 billion) and b) lengthening the average maturity […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Cornucopia of Data and Central Bank Announcements as April Draws to an End
April 30, 2015
Japan’s Nikkei slumped 2.7% following yesterday’s very weak U.S. GDP followed by an FOMC statement that kept the possibility of a June rate hike alive. Share prices also fell in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, India, and Indonesia. In Europe, where Moody’s cut Greece’s credit rating further, equities are narrowly mixed. The dollar advanced […] More
