Bank of Russia
Dollar Rose Slightly
February 12, 2021
The dollar recovered 0.5% against the Mexican peso and New Zealand dollar, 0.3% relative to the Swiss franc and Australian dollar, 0.2% versus the euro, yen, and loonie, and 0.1% against sterling overnight. On a trade-weighted basis, the U.S. currency is up 0.2% and trading in the middle of today’s high-low corridor. Lunar New Year […] More
Last Meaningful Week of 2020 Drawing to Close
December 18, 2020
Ahead of the approaching year-end holidays, this week saw a rush of central bank policy reviews and data releases, many coming a couple of days earlier in December than is customary in other months. Foreign exchange trading tends to lose some breadth and depth in the final weeks of December, making currency relationships prone to […] More
Russian Central Bank Interest Rate Cut as Expected
July 24, 2020
With a warning that “in the context of prevailing disinflationary factors, there is a risk that in 2021 inflation might deviate downwards from the 4% target,” officials at the Central Bank of the Russian Federation enacted their fourth one-week repo rate cut of 2020 to 4.25%. Together with reductions of 25 basis points in February, […] More
Confidence Hit by Concerns Over China, Coronavirus, and Economic Outlook
July 24, 2020
The last thing the world needs in the middle of a recession is an escalation of Sino-U.S. trade and foreign policy strains, but that became an even likelier prospect as Beijing officials closed down the U.S. consulate in Chengdu. The day’s coronavirus data have been again alarming, although not quite to the extent of the […] More
Good Trade News but Unsettling Covid Developments
June 19, 2020
Share prices got a boost from an overnight report that China will step up purchases of U.S. agricultural goods. This comes after Thursday’s revelation in the Bolton tell-all book that Trump had solicited a boost in Chinese purchases to voter reelection support from the mid-west. Several populous U.S. states like California, Florida, and Texas continue […] More
More Evidence of Deep and Global Economic Downturn
April 24, 2020
Dollar movements on the final day of the week have been comparatively modest and somewhat mixed against other major currencies. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil extended its rebound but is currently still down 7.6% since last Friday’s close. Gold is little changed. Further substantial declines of 9-10 basis points have occurred today […] More
Bank of Russia
March 20, 2020
The Bank of Russia had previously lowered its key interest rate from 7.75% prior to June 2019 to 6.0% after a 25-basis point cut in February. However, this easing cycle had to be put on indefinite pause this month because a tumbling ruble is likely to raise inflation above the 4% target in coming months. […] More
Dollar Down After Fed Expands Currency Swap Network.. Equities Up in Asia and Europe
March 20, 2020
The dollar fell overnight by 2.9% against the Australian dollar, 2.5% relative to the kiwi, 2.2% versus sterling, 2.0% vis-a-vis the loonie, 0.8% against the peso, 0.6% versus the yen and 0.4% relative to the euro and Swiss franc. The swap line arrangement that enables central banks to exchange on a temporary basis their own […] More
British Election Lifts Sterling… U.S.-Sino Phase I Progress Boosts Stocks
December 13, 2019
Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party won 365 parliamentary seats, clearing the majority threshold by 39 seats. The Conservatives won 43.6% of the votes to Labour’s 32.2% share. Sterling in response catapulted to an 18-month high of $1.3515 but has settled back to a still impressive 1.3% net overnight advance against the dollar. The greenback also touched […] More
Fresh Wave of Risk Aversion
October 26, 2018
Investors will get their first peak at U.S. third-quarter GDP in less than an hour. Growth likely decelerated from the 4.2% pace in the second quarter but still probably managed to be at 3.0% or a bit above. But markets are reacting most keenly to the Federal Reserve officials’ disregard of President Trump’s criticism of […] More
