Central Bank Watch
Bank of England
November 5, 2015
The Monetary Policy Committee combined many public communications into a single day, conveying a lack of urgency especially vis-a-vis the Federal Reserve, to begin the process of rate normalization. The policy statement released after this month’s two day meeting left settings unchanged and revealed that only Ian McCafferty among the nine committee members wanted to […] More
Central Bank Watch
National Bank of Romania
November 5, 2015
Romania’s record low 1.75% monetary policy rate was not changed at the last scheduled meeting of 2015. The rate had been at 3.25% when the Board met in September 2014 and authorized a cut of 25 basis points. Five more such reductions followed over the ensuing eight months to the present level. The Board released […] More
Central Bank Watch
Czech National Bank
November 5, 2015
Central bank officials decided to keep their stimulative monetary policy unchanged at the latest review and released a statement that rehashes the two elements of the stance. The two-week repo rate has been at 0.05%, a virtual zero interest rate stance, since November 2012. Since November 2013, moreover, intervention has been used to prevent the […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank Negara Malaysia
November 5, 2015
Malaysia’s overnight central bank interest rate will remain at 3.25% following five 25-basis point tightenings spaced between May 2010 and July 2014. A statement released after today’s policy meeting acknowledges that the stance is accommodative. Growth next year is projected in a 4-5% range, but risks in the global economic and financial environment are considered […] More
Central Bank Watch
Norges Bank
November 5, 2015
The latest meeting of the Executive Board resulted in no change in Norway’s record low central bank rate of 0.75%. As an energy producer and exporter, Norway’s economy was hit by the share decline in world oil prices since June 2014. Real GDP is likely to expand less than 1% in 2015. A statement from […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
An Informing Day with Some Surprises
November 5, 2015
U.S. labor productivity unexpectedly rose last quarter and substantially so at that. A gain of 1.6% on top of a 3.5% second-quarter increase resulted in a significantly smaller quarter-over-quarter 1.4% climb in unit labor costs. Nonetheless, the big productivity picture remains soft, with a rise of just 0.4% between 3Q14 and 3Q15 versus 0.8% in […] More