Central Bank of Chile
Chilean Interest Rate Cut
July 31, 2023
Late Friday came news of a full percentage point reduction in the Central Bank of Chile‘s key interest rate to 10.25%. The rate had been lifted from 0.5% to 4.0% in 2021 and to a 24-year high of 11.25% in seven additional incremental policy tightenings by October 2022. Chilean CPI inflation of 7.6% last month […] More
Lots of Data and a Weakening Yen on Final Day of July
July 31, 2023
The dollar rose 0.7% against the Japanese yen but mostly softened against other currencies including drops of 1.0% against the Australian dollar, 0.9% relative to the New Zealand dollar, 0.3% versus the Canadian dollar and 0.1% vis-a-vis the euro. Share prices rose 1.3% in Japan, 0.9% in South Korea, 0.8% in Kong Kong, 0.6% in […] More
Central Bank Interest Rates Back in the Spotlight
June 20, 2023
Tuesday has been a more active day in financial markets than Monday, with the return of U.S. leadership after yesterday’s Juneteenth holiday. The dollar has been mixed, dropping 0.3% against the yen and 0.1% versus the euro but advancing 1.0% relative to the Australian currency, 0.5% vis-a-vis the kiwi, 0.4% against the Turkish lira, 0.3% […] More
Service Sector Purchasing Manager Surveys and Some Central Banking Developments
April 5, 2023
The dollar overnight traded 0.6% higher against the Australian dollar, 0.5% lower versus the Japanese yen, and held steady on balance against the euro and Canadian dollar. Equities closed down 1.7% and 0.7% in Japan and Hong Kong and up 0.8% and 0.6% in India and South Korea. In Europe, the German Dax is down […] More
Some Fresh Concerns
January 27, 2023
While awaiting the monthly U.S. report on personal income, personal consumption, and the Fed’s favored PCE price deflator, investors got some disquieting price news from other countries. In Japan where consumer price data for Tokyo are reported a month earlier than national statistics, today’s January figures showed an acceleration of the total CPI to a […] More
Central Bank of Chile
September 7, 2022
The Central Bank of Chile‘s monetary policy has underwent a radical shift since mid-2021. Starting at just 0.50%, the policy interest rate was raised to 4.0% during the second half of last year and — after yesterday’s announced greater-than-expected full percentage point increase to 10.75% — a further 675 basis points so far this year. […] More
A Busy Wednesday as Central Banks Compete with Data for Market Attention
September 7, 2022
Dollar strength continues, with another 20-year high touched overnight by the weighted DXY index. At 144.98, the dollar climbed 1.4% overnight and to its highest Japanese yen value since August 1998 when the Asian debt crisis was raging. The greenback also has advanced 0.8% versus sterling and 0.3% vis-a-vis the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand […] More
Central Bank of Chile Rate Hike
July 14, 2022
Chilean monetary officials had cut their interest rate twice in March 2020 by a total of 125 basis points to 0.50% but began to raise the rate in July 2021 and did so in four moves by a total of 350 basis points by December. Yesterday’s unanimously decided increase to 9.75% from 9.0% was the […] More
Revolting Developments but the Dollar Rally Plays On and Central Bankers Scramble to Catch Up
July 14, 2022
Not for the first time this year, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s candid remarks about a deteriorating global economic outlook has fanned investors’ flight to safety. The litany of problems includes soaring inflation, tighter monetary policies, Russia’s relentless destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, other geopolitical tensions, and weakening business and consumer confidence. He could have added […] More
Big Interest Rate Hike at the Central Bank of Chile
January 26, 2022
Whereas G7 central banks other than the Bank of England (whose interest rate is still a very depressed 0.25%) have not begun interest rate lift-off, the same is not true at many second-tier monetary authorities. For example, the Brazilian Selic rate has been raised from a 2.0% pandemic low to 9.5%. Ukraine’s policy rate has […] More
