Central Bank of Turkey
Turkish Central Bank Rate Cut
November 18, 2021
Turkish monetary policy has become very politicized this year, conforming to the wishes of President Erdogan’s view that inflation conforms positively, not inversely, to changes in the central bank interest rates. Erdogan has secured his desired downtrend in Turkey’s one-week repo rate by replacing policymakers at the Central Bank of Turkey who disagreed with him. […] More
A Diversity of Central Bank Rate Decisions… Dollar and Equities Mixed
November 18, 2021
Central bank officials today cut Turkey’s one-week repo rate by 100 basis points, left record-low policy interest rates unchanged in the Philippines and Indonesia, and are widely expected to announce an interest rate hike in South Africa. This year’s unexpectedly sharp acceleration of inflation to multi-year and multi-decade highs around the world has overshadowed Covid […] More
Central Bank of Turkey
September 23, 2021
The biggest central bank surprise move today was made in Turkey, where officials of the TCMB slashed their one-week repo rate by a full percentage point to 18.0% even though inflation keeps cresting and is currently at a 16-month high of 19.25%. As recently as March 2021, the rate had been lifted by 200 basis […] More
Considerable Central Bank News and a Whole Lot More
September 23, 2021
The takeaways from Fed Chairman Powell’s press conference yesterday are that a tapering of Fed bond purchases could begin as soon as right after the next scheduled FOMC meeting and should be drawn down to zero by mid-2022, plus the lift-off date for the fed funds target could occur next year rather than in 2023. […] More
Yet Another Higher-than-Assumed U.S. Inflation Number and Other Disappointing Data
August 12, 2021
The dollar has edged up 0.1% against the euro, loonie, Swissie, yuan and its weighted DXY index. The dollar climbed 0.5% relative to the Australian and New Zealand dollars but is unchanged so far today versus the Japanese yen. Asian equity markets mostly lost modest ground Thursday, and U.S. share prices are a bit lower […] More
Parade of Other Central Banks
June 17, 2021
Markets had reacted late Wednesday to the Federal Reserve‘s signal that its initial interest rate hike is likely to occur during 2023, rather than 2024 as implied previously. Several other central banks had scheduled policy reviews whose results were learned subsequently. At the time of the opening of U.S. stock market trading on Thursday, the […] More
Lower Dollar
May 6, 2021
The dollar settled back 0.4% on a weighted basis and against the euro overnight. The dollar also lost 0.5% relative to the Swiss franc, 0.3% versus the loonie, and 0.1% relative to the New Zealand and Australian currencies. The dollar alternatively edged 0.1% higher against the peso and sterling and held steady on balance versus […] More
Spotlight on Central Banks, Fresh Data and, as Always, Covid
April 15, 2021
The uncertain delayed roll-out of the J&J one-shot Covid vaccine is creating consternation, especially in light of high rates of new cases in many places. The National Bank of Ukraine’s policy interest rate was raised a full percentage point to 7.5%. This was the second straight tightening and twice the size of the initial 50-basis […] More
Two Percentage Point Central Bank Rate Hike in Turkey
March 18, 2021
One currency to buck the downward trend of most currencies versus the dollar has been the Turkish lira, which has rebounded about 2% in response to a greater-than-expected 200 basis point increase in the Central Bank of Turkey’s one-week repo rate. Turkish CPI inflation has climbed to 15.6%. At 19%, the central bank interest rate […] More
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
