Australian consumer prices
Tech Stock Rally, Better German Economic News, and a Surprise Indonesian Central Bank Rate Hike
April 24, 2024
A recent concern had been that delayed Fed easing would particularly hurt coming earnings in the tech sector, but first quarter earnings have exceeded expectations. Tesla’s share price leaped over 10% in after-hours trading yesterday, and the Nasdaq futures shows a 0.7% overnight advance at this moment. Asian equities closed up 2.4% in Japan, 2.0% […] More
Softer Dollar and Share Prices
July 25, 2018
The dollar fell 0.8% overnight against the peso and 0.5% versus the yuan, and it has slipped 0.3% against the loonie, 0.1% vis-a-vis the Australian dollar, and 0.2% relative to the yen, euro, Swiss franc, kiwi, and sterling. Share price losses amount to 0.3% in Taiwan and South Korea, 0.8% in the U.K., 0.6% in […] More
Dollar Retreats but European Stocks Rise Strongly
January 25, 2017
The dollar fell 0.6% against sterling, 0.5% relative to the yen, 0.4% vis-a-vis the loonie and kiwi and 0.3% against the euro, Swiss franc, yuan and Mexican peso. Yesterday’s tightening of Turkish monetary policy had a perverse effect on the lira, convincing investors that the currency is so vulnerable that more monetary restraint will be […] More
Price of Oil Softens Further
October 26, 2016
It appears that Russia will probably not join OPEC’s effort to cut production. In response, West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell another 1.4% to $49.25 per barrel. Stocks in Europe and the Pacific Rim have performed weakly overnight, depressed by a number of weaker-than-expected corporate earnings reports. Equities lost 1.5% in New Zealand and Australia, […] More
Spotlight Today Belongs to Central Banks
January 28, 2015
Financial markets await the FOMC statement due at 14:00 EST (19:00 GMT). Meaningful changes are not anticipated. No press conference is scheduled afterward. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) tweaked monetary policy after its first unscheduled policy meeting in thirteen years. Ordinarily policy, which is oriented around the management of the currency rather than a […] More
Aussie Dollar Lifted by Higher-than-Forecast CPI
July 23, 2014
Australian consumer prices climbed 0.5% on quarter and to a nine-quarter high of 3.0% on year, which coincides with the 2-3% target ceiling. The trimmed mean measure of core CPI inflation rose to 2.9% from 2.6% in the first quarter and final quarter of 2013. There seems little chance of a further monetary policy easing, […] More
Kiwi Stronger
April 24, 2013
The New Zealand dollar, known as the kiwi, got a lift from the central bank policy statement. Although the Official Cash Rate was left at 2.5% and the monetary policy outlook predicting the OCR will likely remain at that low level all year was also not changed, investors reacted to an upgraded assessment of New […] More
Eye on the U.K.
January 23, 2013
Sterling hasn’t reacted much to news out of Britain, edging 0.1% higher against the dollar. Prime Minister Cameron’s delayed speech on Britain’s relationship to the EU promised an in/out referendum by December 2017 if Conservatives are reelected. He like Britain to stay in the EU but only if the rules of its relationship to the […] More
E-Day
October 26, 2011
Results from today’s summit in Brussels of Euroland leaders are not expected until very late. The summit is seen as a do-or-die moment for the common currency. Even if officials managed to agree to more than investors anticipate, cynicism remains high that things will still fall apart in the future. The dollar rose 1.1% against […] More
Six Days and Counting
July 27, 2011
No discernible progress has been reported in the U.S. debt ceiling talks, yet markets are not falling apart. The dollar recovered 0.3% against the euro and edged up 0.1% against the yuan and sterling. The dollar fell 0.2% against the yen and loonie but is unchanged against the Swiss franc. Former Japanese Prime Minister Sakakibara […] More
