Bank of Russia
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
A Shift from Fixed Income Assets Into Stocks
September 14, 2018
The second week of September came and went without the feared announcement of much higher U.S. tariffs. Even though that danger remains looking ahead, there’s been a return ot riskier assets. Share prices in the Pacific Rim rose 1.2% in Japan today, 1.0% in Hong Kong and Singapore, 1.3% in Indonesia and Taiwan, and 1.4% […] More
Bank of Russia Retains 7.25% Main Interest Rate
June 15, 2018
Russian monetary easing is on pause. The rate had been last cut by 25 basis points in both February and March and before that by a full percentage point during March-June of 2017 and 125 basis points during the final quarter of last year. But after leaving the one-week repo rate at 7.25% following this […] More
More Trouble
June 15, 2018
President Trump has approved a 25% tariff on $50 billion of Chinese imports. The Bank of Japan gave a gloomier assessment of inflation, downgrading its range to 0.5-1.0% from around 1.0% and observing that medium-term and long-term inflation expectations aren’t escaping a deflationary mindset. Policy settings were left unchanged, and an extremely accommodative stance seemingly […] More
A 25-Basis Point Cut in the Bank of Russia’s Main Interest Rate to 7.5%
February 12, 2018
During calendar 2017, a combination of three 50-basis point central bank interest rate reductions including one in December and three other cuts of 25 basis points lowered the rate to 7.75% from 10.0%. For this year’s first easing, officials chose a 25-basis point increment but released a statement that observed a significant current shortfall of […] More
Bank of Russia
December 15, 2017
Russia’s key monetary policy rate has been reduced by a greater-than-expected 50 basis points to 7.75%. A main reason why central bank officials were able to slice 50 basis points from their interest rate as they did in September and April rather than 25 bps was was done in October, June, and March is related […] More
