Peoples Bank of China
Watching Iran, Central Banks and Inflation Data While Also Anticipating Nvidia’s 1Q Earnings Report
May 20, 2026
As has become increasingly common, same-day movement in Asian equity markets has been opposite in direction from the trends in Europe and North America. On this Wednesday, Pac Rim share prices closed lower, including losses of 1.7% in New Zealand, 1.3% in Australia, 1.2% in Japan and 0.9% in South Korea. The major euro area […] More
Dollar Unmoved by Record-Long State of the Union Address
February 25, 2026
Aside from a 0.5% overnight rise against the yen and a 0.5% drop versus the Australian dollar, the U.S. currency is narrowly mixed, and the DXY weighted dollar index is unchanged from Tuesday’s closing value. Major U.S. equity index rises of about 0.5% in pre-open futures trading show smaller increases than many other stock exchanges. […] More
Greenland Tensions, Tariphobia, and A Snap Election in Japan Rile Investors
January 20, 2026
President Trump’s relentless obsession with acquiring Greenland has shaken investor confidence to the roots. The seemingly delusional threat to do whatever it takes to get this done hadn’t been taken seriously until recently. Would a U.S. president really mimic the behaviors of the Chinese and Russian leaders vis-a-vis Taiwan and Ukraine? After linking Greenland’s annexation […] More
Pursuing Other Plans that Don’t Involve America
July 21, 2025
(182) Much has changed in the world during the first half of Donald Trump’s second non-consecutive term as president of the United States. As the August 1st tariff hike deadline looms closer, several sets of frenzied efforts to reach trade deals with the U.S. continue, but countries on a different level are forging closer ties […] More
Price Data and U.S. Policy Opacity
June 20, 2025
U.S. policies in a variety of areas have become less clear. The Trump administration is keeping the numbers on immigrant round-ups and deportations close to the vest. Business owners have become more vocal about the havoc to business operations that ICE activity is producing. Whether or not the U.S. assists Israel in destroying Iran’s nuclear […] More
Interest Rate Cuts in Australia and China
May 20, 2025
Australia’s OCR cut of 25 basis points to a 23-month low of 3.85% today was the second such move since February, but Governor Bullock and a released statement acknowledged significant changes since that initial reduction. Price risks have diminished, while the global landscape for growth now looks much less supportive. Bullock revealed that monetary officials […] More
Producer Price Disinflation and Chinese and Australian Interest Rate Cuts
May 20, 2025
The U.S. dollar’s biggest overnight move was a 0.9% advance against the Australian dollar that followed an as-expected cut in the Reserve Bank of Australia Official Cash Rate but also a more dovish-than-expected statement and press conference explaining the action. The weighted DXY dollar index ticked only 0.1% higher. Whereas U.S. stock futures are slightly […] More
Central Bank Roll Call
March 20, 2025
The immediate sigh of relief by market participants — expressed in higher share prices and a retreat of the 10-year Treasury yield — to yesterday’s Federal Reserve show quickly wore off during overnight hours. Less emphasis has been attached to the unchanged Fed signal of likely two interest rate cuts later this year and to […] More
A Few More Central Bank Decisions, A Lot More Price Data, and A Possible U.S. Government Shutdown Is Looking More Likely
December 20, 2024
The U.S. dollar fell overnight by 0.4% against the Japanese yen, Swiss franc, and British pound. Smaller dips of 0.2% and 0.1% happened versus the euro and Canadian dollar, while bigger slides occurred against the Mexican peso of 0.8% and Brazilian Real of 2.2%. The Bank of Mexico’s policy interest rate has been reduced by another […] More
Overnight Dollar Movements Consistent with Expectation that Trump Wins Back the Presidency
October 28, 2024
The U.S. currency slipped 0.3% against the euro and sterling and 0.2% relative to the Swiss franc and New Zealand dollar. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Trump favors a weaker dollar to trim the trade deficit. One currency that instead fell 0.5% overnight against the dollar was the Mexican peso. Mexico would take a lot of […] More
