Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
What to Make of Three Helter Skelter Weeks that Felt Like a Year
January 21, 2016
Central bankers tend to be cautious and not prone to scrapping a forecast on the basis of a couple of difficult weeks when developments haven’t jived with baseline assumptions. But there was the ECB President today declaring that “downside risks have increased again and citing a trio of causes — increased uncertainty surrounding emerging markets, […] More
Central Bank Watch
Brazilian Central Bank Flinches
January 21, 2016
The rhetoric late last year from Copom, the monetary policy committee at the Central Bank of Brazil, had encouraged market players to expect another tightening of the Selic interest rate, which from April 2013 to July 2015 had been lifted from 7.25% to 14.25%. Even though 14.25% represents the highest Selic rate level since October […] More
Central Bank Watch
Bank Negara Malaysia Keeps 3.25% Benchmark Interest Rate
January 21, 2016
Malaysia’s central bank interest rate was cut five times between March 2010 and July 2014 to its current level of 3.25%, which was retained at the latest meeting of the monetary policy committee. Officials assert that their policy stance is appropriately accommodative and will support growth, which has been only moderate. Inflation is expected to […] More
Central Bank Watch
European Central Bank Cuts Inflation View and Says More Stimulus is Possible in Early March
January 21, 2016
The previous Governing Council meeting on December 3 had cut the deposit rate by 10 basis points to negative 0.30%, extended the EUR 60 billion per month asset purchase program (APP) by six months to March 2017, and agreed to reinvest the maturing principal of assets purchased in the APP. Today’s meeting did not initiate […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Central Banks Stand Down
January 21, 2016
In these tumultuous times, it would not be surprising to see monetary policy changes taken to help dissipate the high level of market fear. Instead, The ECB Governing Council retained its interest rate structure, consisting of a 0.05% refinancing rate flanked by a negative 0.30% deposit rate and a +0.25% marginal lending rate. Brazil’s monetary […] More
