National Bank of Romania
Wave of Risk Aversion Following Moody’s Downgrade of Mid-Sized Banks and China’s Weak Trade Figures
August 8, 2023
Ten-year sovereign debt yields plunged overnight by 16 basis points in France, 15 bps in Germany and Spain, 12 bps in the U.K. and nine basis points in the United States. Prices for gold and oil have dropped 0.4% and 2.3%, while that for Bitcoin advanced 0.7%. Share prices fell 1.8% in Hong Kong and […] More
Inflation and Industrial Production Headline Busy Day of Data Releases and Central Bank News
February 10, 2023
Today has been a difficult day for stocks and bonds. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed 2.0% lower, and the German, French, Italian, and Spanish stock markets are each down over 1.0%. U.S. stock futures were down 0.5-1% prior to the U.S. open. Ten-year sovereign debt yields had advanced by seven basis points in Italy […] More
Another Romanian Interest Rate Hike
January 10, 2023
The tenth increase of the current tightening cycle in the National Bank of Romania‘s interest rate was undertaken today. The incremental rise was lowered to 25 basis points from the prior increases of 75 basis points in October and 50 bps in November. Tightening began in October 2021 from a base of 1.25%, but the […] More
Federal Reserve Official Remarks Tamp Down Financial Market Optimism
January 10, 2023
Officials at the Federal Reserve forswear any intent to target financial market indicators like the dollar, share prices or long-term interest rates. Policy is to be guided by real economic trends and inflation. But in a tightening policy cycle, now ten months long in the tooth, market euphoria cannot be tolerated. After last Friday’s big […] More
Markets Unfazed So Far by Likelihood of a Big Republican Win in Today’s U.S. Midterm Election
November 8, 2022
The dollar strengthened overnight by 0.3% on a weighted basis. It went up 0.2% versus the Aussie dollar 0.3% against the euro, Swiss franc, Chinese yuan, New Zealand dollar and sterling and rose 0.7% relative to the Canadian dollar. There was also a 0.1% dip against the Japanese yen. The ten-year Treasury yield remains unchanged […] More
National Bank of Romania’s Policy Interest Rate Raised 75 Basis Points to 8-Year High of 3.75%
May 10, 2022
While Federal Reserve officials have been talking the talk of an expeditious tightening of monetary policy, many other central banks have been actually walking the walk. The National Bank of Romania is one of these. Today’s announced Romanian interest rate hike was the largest in a string of six increases since October. In all, the […] More
National Bank of Romania’s Key Interest Rate Restored to Pre-Pandemic Level
February 9, 2022
A 50-basis point increase in the National Bank of Romania‘s key interest rate to 2.5% restores such to its pre-pandemic level. The rate had been cut by fll percentage point in 202o and by an additional 25 basis points in January 2021. The low of 1.25% had been maintained for nine months, and today’s action […] More
Lessening Risk Aversion
February 9, 2022
The recent sell-off in bonds has taken a step back, and that has encouraged bottom-feeding in equities. Nonetheless, markets have come a long way in the first five weeks of 2022. The 30 year U.S. fixed mortgage rate rose another five basis points last week and, at 3.83%, was 56 basis points above its end-2021 […] More
A More Gradual Approach to Rate Normalization in Romania than at Other Eastern European Central Bankers
January 10, 2022
Romania’s policy interest rate was raised only 25 basis points after the first monetary policy review of 2022 even though total CPI inflation of 7.8% is more than twice the 3.5% target ceiling, core inflation has also risen, and both measures are projected to crest further in the short run. Today’s increase to 2.0% follows […] More
More Signs of Intensifying Inflation and Another Central Bank Rate Hike
November 10, 2021
The dollar didn’t move much right after U.S. CPI data were released but had already advanced by 0.0.4% overnight on a weighted basis before then to within 0.2% of its 52-week high. Dollar gains amounted to 0.5% against the kiwi and sterling, 0.4% relative to the euro and yen, and 0.3% vis-a-vis the Swiss franc […] More
