Uncategorized
July 2021 in Figures
July 30, 2021
In July the dollar closed virtually unchanged from its midyear value against its DXY weighted index. The U.S. currency fell against other perceived safe havens like the yen and Swiss franc but rose 2.1% against the Australian dollar. The ten-year U.S. Treasury yield dropped 24 basis points, similar to the size of the drop in […] More
Next Week’s Menu: July 24 -30, 2021
July 23, 2021
Central Banks: There is a two-day FOMC meeting with Powell’s press conference to follow Wednesday. Policy meetings are also scheduled in Colombia and Hungary, and the Bank of Japan will publish a summary of its most recent policy review. U.S. Statistical Releases Next Week: Quarterly GDP and employment cost index. Monthly personal income, spending & […] More
June 2021 and Second Quarter in Figures
June 30, 2021
The dollar was strongly bid against other currencies and gold during June but lost modest ground over the course of the whole second quarter. Although all the central banks highlighted in the feature did not change interest rates during the second quarter, Fed officials signaled that quantitative easing is likely to begin sooner that thought […] More
Next Week’s Menu: June 12 – 18, 2021
June 11, 2021
Central Banks: Monetary policies will be reviewed in the United States, Japan, Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil, Switzerland, Norway, Ukraine and Taiwan. Fed Chairman Powell, BOJ Governor Kuroda, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Lowe, and Swiss National Bank President Jordan will be speaking publicly. RBA minutes to be published. Events and Holidays: U.S. President Biden’s trip to […] More
Half Percentage Point Central Bank Interest Rate Hike in Russia
June 11, 2021
A third successive hike of the Central Bank of Russia has been engineered, and its 50-basis point increase to 5.5% exceeded forecasts of a 25-basis point move. The rate had been raised by 50 basis points in April and 75 bps in May. A statement from the Board of Directors after the scheduled policy […] More
Central Bank of Iceland Raises Interest Rate to 1.0%
May 19, 2021
The Central Bank of Iceland today became the first Western European central bank authority to raise its interest rate. During 2020, the monetary policy committee had slashed its policy rate from 3.0% to 0.75% in five incremental cuts. But a released statement after today’s scheduled meeting showed that officials are taking current 8-year consumer price […] More
Another Brazilian Central Bank Rate Hike
May 6, 2021
The Central Bank of Brazil’s Selic Rate was hiked by 75 basis points for the second time this year. Itnow becomes 3.5%. In 2020, the rate had been cut to 2.0% from 4.5% in five incremental moves. The tightening this year has been done because core inflation has risen to the top of the range […] More
Next Week’s Menu: March 20 – 26, 2021
March 19, 2021
Central Banks: Interest rate policy will be reviewed in Switzerland, Iceland, China, Thailand, South Africa, Mexico, Colombia and the Philippines. NY Federal Reserve District President Williams is one of the Fed officials speaking in public, and Bank of England Governor Bailey gives a speech, too. Minutes from a previous Bank of Japan Board meeting will […] More
Service Sector PMI Surveys and a Whole Lot More Data This Wednesday
March 3, 2021
The dollar overnight rose 1.0% against the Mexican peso, 0.5% relative to the New Zealand dollar, 0.4% versus the Aussie dollar, 0.3% against sterling 0.2% on a trade-weighted basis and 0.1% versus the yen and loonie. Sterling has remained steady on net, by contrast, continuing a pattern of comparative strength since the start of this […] More
Reminders that Covid’s Negative Effect on Economic Activity Isn’t Going Away Quickly
March 2, 2021
Yesterday was a good day from a data release point of view, and equities rallied around the world. Today’s news has been more sobering. German retail sales, which had tumbled 9.1% in December but been forecast to be fairly flat in January, instead took a further 4.5% dive and recorded an even greater year-on-year slide […] More
