Central Bank Watch
Bank of Norway
May 4, 2017
The Executive Board of Norges Bank left its main policy interest rate at 0.50%. Such was cut six times from December 2011 through March of last year, each time by 25 basis points. In today’s released statement, officials continue to defend maintaining an accommodative stance because of low capacity usage and project 1-2% inflation “over […] More
Central Bank Watch
Czech National Bank
May 4, 2017
The two-week repo rate, which is the Czech National Bank’s main policy instrument now that a cap on koruna appreciation beyond 27.0 per euro has been lifted as of four weeks ago, was held steady by a unanimous vote today. It’s been at 0.05% since a cut in November 2012. According to a released statement, […] More
Deeper Analysis
U.S. Non-Manfacturing PMI and Ezone Services PMI
May 4, 2017
The U.S. non-manufacturing purchasing managers index rose 2.3 points to 57.5 in April, signifying a robust expansion whose rate of growth accelerated significantly that month. Production (up 3.5 to 62.4), orders (up 4.3 to 63.2) and prices (up 4.1 to 57.6) each expanded much more quickly than in March, while jobs continued to grow slowly. […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Euro Climbs against Dollar and Yen
May 4, 2017
Several themes were in play on Thursday. A contentious French presidential candidate between centrist Macron and the far-to-the-right Le Pen was considered won by Macron, who already leads in polls. A victory for him in this Sunday’s run-off election would prevent Frexit. Service sector purchasing manager survey results in April show Euroland growing at an […] More
