Bank of Norway
U.S. Treasury Yield Climbs Sharply in Spite of Fed’s Message and Lifts Dollar
March 18, 2021
Markets aren’t buying yesterday’s dovish policy message from the Federal Reserve. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield roared ten basis points higher overnight to 1.74%, just shy of doubling mid-December’s level. The 10-year British gilt yield rose 6 basis points even though the Bank of England maintained its policy settings, too, and called its current monetary […] More
Slew of U.S. Executive Orders and Central Bank Policy Reviews
January 21, 2021
President Biden’s inaugural address yesterday called for national unity to face down the many severe challenges now juxtaposed. 17 executive orders followed to reverse several polices of the Trump era. Contrary to warnings, inauguration day was free of domestic violence. U.S. stocks experienced their greatest advance on a presidential inauguration day since 1985, when Reagan […] More
Dollar Slinks to Another 32-Month Low and Several Central Banks Leave Interest Rates As Is
December 17, 2020
The DXY trade-weighted dollar index fell below 90 to as low as 89.79. Overnight losses occurred across of broad cross-section of key bilateral dollar relationships amounting to 0.9% versus the kiwi, 0.8% relative to sterling, 0.7% versus the Australian dollar, 0.5% against the yen and euro, 0.3% vis-a-vis the Canadian dollar, and 0.2% versus the […] More
Nine-Week High in Trade-Weighted Dollar Despite Adverse U.S. News
September 24, 2020
The dollar rose overnight to a nine-week trade-weighted high of 94.55. The U.S. currency touched a three-month high of NOK 9.5974 against the Norwegian krone, two-month highs of 1.1633 per euro and CHF 0.9269, and 1-month highs of $0.6516 against the New Zealand dollar and ZAR 17.2230 versus the South African rand. Gold, which tends […] More
Sharp Equity Declines but Mixed Dollar
August 20, 2020
The U.S. equity market correction triggered by downbeat FOMC minutes released yesterday afternoon set the tone for overnight losses in European and Asian markets where bourses tumbled 3.7% in South Korea and 3.3% in Taiwan and by at least 1.0% in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, India, Germany, France, Italy, U.K., and Spain. Indonesia’s market did […] More
More Concern than Hope in Thursday’s Marketplace
June 18, 2020
It’s been a busy day for central bank watchers, as monetary policy was reviewed in the U.K., Norway, Switzerland, Brazil, Taiwan, and Indonesia. Released statements and some new data adhere to the baseline view that economic activity contracted even more sharply in the second quarter than the first but that the rate of slide began […] More
Bank of Norway
May 7, 2020
The Bank of Norway‘s policy interest rate was cut 25 basis points to zero percent. That’s down from 1.5% prior to reductions of 50 basis points on March 13 and 75 bps one week later. Officials at the central bank observe an abrupt drop in the economy, accentuated by lower oil prices for this energy […] More
Disconnection Thursday Between Recessionary Data and Buoyant Stocks
May 7, 2020
Equities were mixed in Asia but have risen more impressively in Europe this morning. There were drops of 0.8% in India, 0.7% in Hong Kong and 0.2% in China but advances of 0.6% in Taiwan, 0.3% in Japan and 0.5% in New Zealand. The British Ftse, German Dax, and Paris Cac each have risen at […] More
Bank of Norway
March 20, 2020
the Bank of Norway, which had cut its policy rate to 1.0% from 1.5% on March 12, cut such again on the 19th after an unscheduled meeting to 0.25%, asserting simply that “the situation in the Norwegian economy has continued to worsen” in the past week. The reduction a week ago had been the first […] More
Coronavirus Spreading and Three Central Banks Review Monetary Policy
January 23, 2020
Share prices slumped another 2.8% in China, 1.5% in Hong Kong, 1.0% in Japan, 0.9% in South Korea, and 0.6% in Australia and Singapore as the deadly pneumonia-like disease centered in Asia claimed more victims. Share prices in Europe are so far today down 0.4% in Germany and 0.3% in the U.K. and Switzerland but […] More
