New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Large Setback in European Share Prices
April 17, 2015
Markets are hedging against the once-unthinkable possibilities of a Greek debt default or Greece leaving the common European currency area or both, and there is fear that the consequences will not hit Greece alone. Share prices have dropped by 2.2% in Italy, 2.1% in Spain, 1.9% in Germany, 1.4% in France, 1.2% in Greece and […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of Chile
April 16, 2015
Board members left Chile’s monetary policy rate at 3.0% as analysts expected. Beginning in January 2012, the interest rate was cut in 25-basis point increments then, October and November 2013, February, March, July, August, September and October of 2014, but not any further during the last half year. On-year CPI inflation of 4.2% as of […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Dollar Recovery in a Lull
April 16, 2015
Coming into April, the dollar had experienced a rally of historic proportions, topped off by advances of more than 9.0% in the first quarter against the euro, yen, Swissie and both Canadian and Australian dollars. In the current month, however, upward dollar momentum has slowed substantially for a variety of reasons. A broad spectrum of […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Tug of War on EUR/USD
April 16, 2015
Across-the-board overnight losses in the dollar masks opposing forces on the key EUR/USD relationship. Relative to key European monies, the dollar on balance has lost 0.6% against sterling, 0.4% versus the euro and 0.2% relative to the Swiss franc. At one point, however, the dollar had retreated as far as 1.0764 against the euro but […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of Poland
April 15, 2015
Having cut the reference interest rate by 50 basis points to 1.50% at the prior meeting on March 4, Poland’s Monetary Council elected not to ease further at today’s meeting. The March action was the first one since January 2014, when it was also reduced by 50 basis points. Since November, the rate has been […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of Sri Lanka
April 15, 2015
Sri Lanka’s Monetary Board surprised investors with a 50-basis point cut in its lending rate to 7.5% and borrowing rate to 6.0%. This was the first change in those rates in a year and a half. They had been cut by 50 bps in October 2013 and previously by that amount in August 2013 and […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank of Canada Maintains 0.75% Overnight Interest Rate Target and Released New Monetary Policy Report
April 15, 2015
In conjunction with the previous quarterly full review, the interest rate had been cut by 25 basis point to 0.75%. That was the first rate change, up or down, since a hike of 25 basis points in September 2010. A subsequent Governing Council meeting on March 4 retained the 0.75% target along with a 1.0% […] More
Central Bank Watch
ECB Press Conference
April 15, 2015
The Governing Council statement made no new policy initiatives, proclaimed the focus now to be on full implementation of the considerable measures taken in recent months and defended those actions as appropriate but in need of supportive fiscal policies and structural reforms from member governments. President Draghi’s press conference may be most remembered for the […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Many Competing Stories but a Unifying Theme is Better Growth in Europe by a Slower Trend Elsewhere
April 15, 2015
ECB President Draghi is wrapping up his press conference. Policy wasn’t changed further. Focus is currently on full implementation of policy initiatives taken recently. Draghi finds the favorable impact of quantitative easing to be impressive: real interest rates have fallen as expected inflation is rising. An important new sentence in the released statement explains what […] More
Central Bank Watch
Indonesian Monetary Policy Stance Not Changed This Month
April 14, 2015
The BI central bank interest rate was kept at 7.5% after this month’s policy meeting. A released statement projects stronger growth in the second than first quarter and observes a softer rupiah against the dollar since the March meeting. CPI inflation stands at 6.38%, but an in-target (3-5%) outcome is expected in 2015. The BI […] More
