sovereign debt yields
December and 2021 in Figures
January 1, 2022
In 2021, the dollar, long-term sovereign debt yields, share prices, commodity prices, and overall inflation rose. Only the Bank of England’s policy interest rate among central banks featured in the monthly feature rose, and that increase didn’t happen until mid-December via a comparatively modest 15 basis points. The Fed and ECB are tapering asset purchase […] More
June 2021 and Second Quarter in Figures
June 30, 2021
The dollar was strongly bid against other currencies and gold during June but lost modest ground over the course of the whole second quarter. Although all the central banks highlighted in the feature did not change interest rates during the second quarter, Fed officials signaled that quantitative easing is likely to begin sooner that thought […] More
December and 2020 in Figures
January 1, 2021
During 2020, the federal funds was slashed 150 basis points, the Bank of England base rate was cut 65 basis points, but benchmarks at the European Central Bank, Swiss National Bank and Bank of Japan were already very low and didn’t fall additionally. Sovereign debt yields in 2020 fell a whole lot more in the […] More
August 2020 in Figures
August 31, 2020
Financial markets in August experienced significant increases in share prices and 10-year sovereign debt yields and a pronounced further decline in the dollar’s external value. Central bank policy interest rates again held steady in the U.K., U.K., Switzerland, euro area and Japan but were lowered in several developing economy countries such as Mexico by 50 […] More
May 2020 in Review
May 30, 2020
With the central bank interest rates featured below already historically low, none as in April were lowered during May. Moreover the sharp declines of ten-year sovereign debt yields in April were partly reversed in several instances this past months. The talk of plans around the world to begin loosening stay-at-home restrictions lifted equity markets sharply, […] More
March and First Quarter 2020 in Figures
March 31, 2020
Similar to February, the dollar’s net movements against the euro, yen, and Swiss franc were an oasis of stability amid the continuing financial market drama elsewhere. For the whole first quarter, the dollar was particularly well-bid against sterling and commodity-sensitive currencies like the Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian dollars. For central bank watchers, March was […] More
February 2020 in Figures
February 29, 2020
February 2020 will be long remembered for its final week that saw an historic drop in equity prices around the world related to concerns about the ultimate economic impact of the spreading covid-19 virus. The Dow Jones Industrials Average index fell on each of the final seven business days of February, losing 13.6% in total […] More
December and 2019 in Figures
January 2, 2020
Equities performed spectacularly in 2019 as a whole and rose in December, too. Ten-year sovereign debt yields rose in December but fell in 2019. Three 25-basis point cuts were made in the federal funds target last year, reversing all by one of the four hikes done in 2018. Elsewhere, there was only a 10-basis point […] More
July 2019 in Figures
July 31, 2019
Even though only the Fed among major central banks cut interest rates in July, long-term interest rates declined in Europe but changed hardly at all over the course of the month in the United States, Canada, or Japan. The Fed’s 25-basis point interest rate cut announced on the final day of the month was its […] More
May 2019 in Figures
June 1, 2019
The month of May exemplified the global interdependence national financial markets, and the unifying force was rising risk aversion. Whereas equities had climbed broadly in April, all the ones shown below dropped just about as sharply in May. Likewise, climbing 10-year sovereign debt yields in April were reversed last month, and except in the case […] More