Bank of Norway
Following the Fed’s Lead to an Extent
May 5, 2022
Wednesday saw a post-FOMC rally in U.S. equities and commodity prices but a drop in the dollar and 10-year Treasury yield. The 50-basis point interest rate hike and the details regarding Fed balance sheet reduction were aligned with market expectations, but Powell’s press conference was more dovish than expected, especially his quelling of the possibility […] More
Norwegian Central Bank Rate Hike
March 24, 2022
The Bank of Norway‘s policy interest rate was increased today by 25 basis points to 0.75%, matching incremental increases last September and December from a pandemic low of zero percent. The move was supported by all members of the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee. However, a released statement served notice that inflation and wage […] More
Stagflationary Outlook Gaining Traction and Western Leaders in Brussels Plan Contingent Plans for Ukraine Crisis
March 24, 2022
The world’s attention today is on Brussels where U.S. President Biden will be meeting with NATO allies, the European Council of political leaders, and Other Group of Seven members. The meetings are meant to coordinate a response to Russia’s continuing invasion of Ukraine, where the use of Russian weapons of mass destruction appears increasingly probable. […] More
Dollar Little Changed on Day that Saw Many Central Bank Meetings and Thick Menu of Released Data
January 20, 2022
The weighted dollar edged up by a marginal 0.1% overnight. It gained 0.1% against the euro and Swiss franc but is unchanged against the yen and sterling and down 0.1% versus the Canadian dollar. Stock market action in the Pacific Rim was widely varied, with Japan Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indices closing 1.1% […] More
A Turkish Central Bank Rate Cut and a Norwegian Rate Increase on the Same Day
December 16, 2021
Thursday’s central bank action illustrated the broadening diversity of monetary policies around the world amid rising inflation but also persistent uncertainty related to the coronavirus pandemic. The Turkish lira got clobbered, slumping more than 5.0% further after the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey reduced the one-week repo rate by another 100 basis point […] More
A Parade of Central Bank Announcements and PMI Releases, Plus Another Strong U.S. Labor Market Indicator
December 16, 2021
The rally late yesterday in U.S. equities carried over into Thursday trading. Share prices rose 2.1% in Japan, 0.8% in China, 0.7% in Taiwan and 0.6% in South Korea. The British, German and French stock markets show gains so far of more than 1.0% today, and the DJIA has gone up by a further 0.6%. […] More
Norges Bank
September 23, 2021
Central bank rate normalization has begun in Norway. Officials of the Bank of Norway at today’s scheduled policy review decided to increase their policy rate by 25 basis points to 0.25% from a record low of zero percent. This action reverses a 25-bp cut in May 2020 that followed two reductions in March totaling 75 […] More
Considerable Central Bank News and a Whole Lot More
September 23, 2021
The takeaways from Fed Chairman Powell’s press conference yesterday are that a tapering of Fed bond purchases could begin as soon as right after the next scheduled FOMC meeting and should be drawn down to zero by mid-2022, plus the lift-off date for the fed funds target could occur next year rather than in 2023. […] More
Divergent Trends Continue in Equities (Down) and the Dollar (Up)
August 19, 2021
Equity markets on Thursday tumbled 2.7% in Taiwan, 2.1% in Indonesia and Hong Kong, 1.9% in South Korea, 1.4% in Singapore, 1.1% in Japan but just 0.6% in China and 0.5% in Australia. In Europe thus far, share prices are down over 2.0% in Germany and France and by more than 1.5% in the U.K. […] More
Parade of Other Central Banks
June 17, 2021
Markets had reacted late Wednesday to the Federal Reserve‘s signal that its initial interest rate hike is likely to occur during 2023, rather than 2024 as implied previously. Several other central banks had scheduled policy reviews whose results were learned subsequently. At the time of the opening of U.S. stock market trading on Thursday, the […] More
