Deeper Analysis
January 2023 in Figures
January 31, 2023
The Bank of Canada was the only Group of Seven central bank to change its policy interest rate during January, but many others engineered adjustments during the month. Like the Bank of Canada, central banks in Israel, those in Romania, Israel, Serbia, Peru, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and South Africa enacted rate hikes of 25 […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Heavy Data Menu, Updated IMF World Economic Outlook, and the FOMC Begins Two-Day Policy Review
January 31, 2023
On this last day of January, the weighted DXY dollar index has edged 0.1% higher but will post its fourth monthly decline in a row. Overnight dollar rises were strongest against the the Aussie dollar (0.9%), kiwi (0.6%), and sterling and loonie (both up 0.4%), but the euro slid only 0.1%, the Swiss franc is […] More
Central Bank Watch
Central Bank of Ghana’s Latest Rate Hike Is Smaller than the Previous Five Moves
January 30, 2023
In Ghana, where consumer price inflation soared from 12.6% at end-2021 to 54.1% last month, officials at the Bank of Ghana increased the policy interest rate from 14.5% coming into March 2022 to 27.0% by last November. The near doubling was accomplished in just five months, with increments of 250 basis points in March, October […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Share and Bond Prices Fall, Dollar Little Changed Ahead of Tuesday-Wednesday FOMC Meeting
January 30, 2023
U.S. equity futures point to a drop of around 1% at the opening bell. Share prices closed down 2.7% in Hong Kong, 1.4% in South Korea, 0.5% in Singapore, 0.4% in Indonesia but up 0.2% in Japan and 0.1% in China. Major European stock exchanges are down about 0.5% thus far. Ten-year sovereign bond yields […] More
Foreign Exchange Insights and Next Week
Next Week’s Menu: January 2 – February 3, 2023
January 27, 2023
Central Banks: Monetary policies will be reviewed at the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank, Bank of Brazil and Czech National Bank. Fed Chairman Powell, ECB President Lagarde, and Bank of England will hold press conferences. Special Event: OPEC Plus officials hold a meeting on Thursday. January Purchasing Manager Surveys: Surveys of manufacturers […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Some Fresh Concerns
January 27, 2023
While awaiting the monthly U.S. report on personal income, personal consumption, and the Fed’s favored PCE price deflator, investors got some disquieting price news from other countries. In Japan where consumer price data for Tokyo are reported a month earlier than national statistics, today’s January figures showed an acceleration of the total CPI to a […] More
Uncategorized
Today’s South African Reserve Bank Rate Hike of 25 Basis Points Was Less Than Predicted
January 26, 2023
Instead of a 50-basis point rate hike to 7.50% by a 3-2 vote of policymakers, the five-person Monetary Policy Committee voted 3-2 to increase South Africa’s repo rate to 7.25%. The interest rate had been at 6.5% coming into the pandemic year of 2020 and was sliced to 3.5% in five moves by May of […] More
Deeper Analysis
Takeaways from Today’s U.S. Data Releases
January 26, 2023
Quarterly U.S. real GDP growth of 2.9% annualized in the final quarter slightly exceeded expectations and was only marginally slower than the third quarter’s 3.2% pace. Despite back-to-back contractions of 1.6% in 1Q and 0.6% in 2Q, GDP still managed to expand on average by 2.1% in 2022 after the prior year’s rebound of 5.9%. […] More
New Overnight Developments Abroad - Daily Update
Investors Marking Time Ahead of Several U.S. Data Releases Today Including the First Estimate of GDP Last Quarter
January 26, 2023
In U.S. stock market futures trading overnight, the S&P 500 and DOW are hardly changed, while better-than-expected reported Tesla profits goosed the Nasdaq. Hong Kong’s stock market reopened with a 2.4% advance, but China remains shut until next week. Japan’s Nikkei dipped 0.1%. In Europe, the Dax is off less than 0.1%. The British Ftse […] More
Central Bank Watch
Latest Bank of Canada Rate Hike to Be Followed By a Pause at 4.50%
January 25, 2023
When rate tightening by the Bank of Canada began in March 2022, the benchmark had been languishing at 0.25% for the previous two years since a trio of 50-basis point cuts in March 2020 shortly after the onset of the Covid pandemic. Today’s eighth hike, like that first one, was 25 basis points in size. […] More
