Fed Chairman Powell
Marking Time as Drama at Jackson Hole and Kabul Unfold
August 26, 2021
The St. Louis and Kansas City Federal Reserve District presidents, who represent predominately Republican regions of the United States, publicly expressed their personal desires to see quantitative tapering begin this autumn, and Bullard of St. Louis added his hope that an interest rate hike be done before the end of 2022. The annual central banking […] More
Watching China and Central Banks
July 15, 2021
The U.S. dollar edged slightly higher overnight, with gains of 0.4% against the Australian and New Zealand currencies, 0.3% versus the euro, and 0.1% relative to the Swiss franc, loonie, and DXY weighted index. Alternatively, the dollar slipped 0.2% against the Chinese yuan and 0.1% versus sterling, while dollar/yen stayed steady. Share prices had climbed […] More
Watching Stocks, Long-Term Interest Rates, and Events on Capitol Hill
February 23, 2021
Futures trading on the Nasdaq, which fell over 300 points yesterday, are down an additional 1.4% this Tuesday. The half-percentage point rise in the U.S. ten-year Treasury yield since mid-December reflects speculation that inflation and growth may be stronger than assumed later this year but not so much so as to provoke the Fed into […] More
Focus in Last Week of February to Be on U.S. Economic Policy
February 22, 2021
U.S. stock futures this Monday point to a lower open, with the S&P index down 0.8% and the Nasdaq off 1.4%. Share prices closed down 1.5% in China, 1.2% in New Zealand, 1.1% in Hong Kong and 0.9% in South Korea, while in Europe, equities are thus far down 0.5% or more in the U.K., […] More
Rising Covid Cases, Growth Outlook Concerns, Supreme Court Nomination Fight, and U.S.-China Tensions
September 22, 2020
The pace of new Covid-19 cases has risen in many countries. A U.S. increase above 40k in the past 24 hours is well above a safe level heading into the flu season. Fed Chairman Powell said America has a long way to go in its economic recovery from spring lockdowns and that a full comeback […] More
Central Banks and Manufacturing PMI Reports in the Spotlight
August 1, 2019
The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee left policy settings unchanged by a unanimous 9-0 vote as was expected. Today’s report coincided with the release of the quarterly Inflation Report. Projected growth in the U.K. last quarter was likely zero percent and that for 2019 has been lowered to 1.3%. The forecast assumes a Brexit […] More
Two Surprises
May 20, 2019
The new week is greeting investors with two unexpected developments, one political and the other economic. The right-of-center Liberal-National coalition government of Australia was headed for defeat in parliamentary elections according to previous opinion polls but instead defeated its Labour Party opponent. Scott Morrison will remain prime minister, and he campaigned on a promise of […] More
Dollar Rises as Powell Testimony Continues
July 18, 2018
The dollar is unchanged against the yen but extended its rise otherwise by gaining a further 0.6% against sterling, 0.3% versus the loonie, Aussie dollar and yuan, 0.2% relative to the euro and 0.1% vis-a-vis the Swiss franc and kiwi. The U.S. currency also strengthened overnight against a broad spectrum of emerging market currencies like […] More
