Central Bank of Russia
Russian Interest Rate Hike
September 15, 2023
Faced with consumer price inflation that in between May and August accelerated to a 9.9% annualized pace, officials at the Central Bank of Russia felt compelled to lift its interest rate by another full percentage point to 13.0%. This increase comes on top of hikes of 100 bps in July and 350 bps in August. […] More
Dollar and Price of Oil Strengthen Further
September 15, 2023
Chinese data for August released Friday beat expectations. On year increases in retail sales and industrial production of 4.6% and 4.5% represent 3- and 4-month highs, and the jobless rate fell 0.1 percentage point back to the 5.2% level of the second quarter. That was the lowest in 16 months. To be sure, there were […] More
Russian Interest Rate Increase
August 15, 2023
The Russian ruble is also in today’s spotlight. One day after such fell to a 17-month low and amid accusations from a high advisor to President Putin blaming a loose monetary policy for the currency’s eroded value, the Central Bank of Russia held an emergency board meeting today and agreed to hike the benchmark interest […] More
Several Significant Developments for Investors to Process
August 15, 2023
Chinese July data have deepened concerns about the world’s second largest economy. Weaker-than-anticipated on-year growth in China’s retail sales of 2.5% was down from 8.2% in the first half of 2023. Industrial production growth of 3.7% year-on-year also undershot expectations. The unemployment rate edged up to a 4-month high of 5.3%, and fixed asset investment […] More
Full Percentage Point Russian Central Bank Rate Hike… More Tightening Promised
July 21, 2023
A full percentage point hike in the Central Bank of Russia’s overnight interest rate to 8.5% was twice as large as markets anticipated, and the action was accompanied by a hawkish statement that depicted the move as the first of multiple increases that will follow in the months ahead. Labor market shortages resulting from President […] More
Dollar Firm With Focus on Inflation and Central Bank Policy
July 21, 2023
The dollar rose overnight by 1.2% against the yen, 0.8% and 0.6% relative to the New Zealand and Australian currencies, 0.7% versus the Turkish lira and 0.2% vis-a-vis sterling. The euro kept pace with the dollar, and the Russian ruble jumped 1.1%. These movements correlated well with perceived monetary policy stances. A full percentage point […] More
A $30 Billion Rescue Package for First Republic Alleviates But Doesn’t End Investor Uneasiness about the Banking System
March 17, 2023
Helped by news that 11 large U.S. banks had put together $30 billion to avoid the failure of First Republic, equities in the Pacific Rim climbed Friday by 1.2% in Japan and New Zealand, 1.6% in Hong Kong, 1.5% in Taiwan, 1.7% in Indonesia, 0.8% in South Korea, 0.7% in China and 0.6% in India. […] More
Financial Markets Pounded With Data Pointing to Recession Superimposed on Elevated Inflation, Illness, and Neverending War
December 16, 2022
A continuing flight from stocks, bonds, and crypto this Friday saw Equities close down 1.9% in Japan, 1.4% in Taiwan, and 1.0% in Singapore. Late in Europe’s day, share prices are down 0.9-1.4% in Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain, and all three major U.S. indices have lost over 1.0% on top of big losses […] More
Central Bank of Russia Cuts Interest Rate Again
September 16, 2022
the Central Bank of Russia’s policy interest rate was sliced by 50 basis points to 7.5%, which is only about half as much as August’s 14.3% year-on-year rate of Russian CPI inflation. According to a released statement, Russian GDP is liable to contract 4% or slightly more this year, and subdued consumption should promote a […] More
Russian Central Bank Rate Cut Three Times Larger than Expected
July 22, 2022
Although economic sanctions had been unsuccessful in many earlier instances, that was the initial NATO response to Russian President Putin’s blatant aggression against Ukraine. The pressure initially seemed to impose great pain on the Russian economy and financial markets. The Central Bank of Russia had previously doubled its key interest rate in 2021 from a […] More
