Swedish Riksbank
Central Bank Rate Changes in Sweden, Norway, Turkey and Brazil
September 22, 2023
The Swedish Riksbank‘s executive board engineered a 25-basis point interest rate hike to 4.0% today, claiming that “inflationary pressures in the Swedish economy are still too high.” That compares with a zero percent rate at the start of the second quarter of 2022 and -0.50% in November 2018. Swedish inflation of 7.5% is far […] More
A Parade of Central Bank Interest Rate Decision and A Shift Away from Risky Assets
September 21, 2023
Sovereign debt has been well-bid in the wake of the Fed’s message not to expect interest rates to fall much in 2024. Many other central banks have chimed in with hawkish messages today. Ten-year sovereign debt yields rose overnight by nine basis points in Italy, seven basis points in the U.K., six bps in the […] More
Sweden’s Third Central Bank Rate Hike of 2023 Lifts Such to a 15-Year High of 3.75%
June 29, 2023
The Swedish Riksbank today became the latest central bank to hike its interest rate higher. That central bank’s policy rate had been -0.50% from early 2016 until an initial hike late in 2018 but was still a mere zero percent when raised 25 basis points in April 2022. By end-2022, such had been raised to […] More
Almost Solid Front of Hawkish Central Bank Policies With a Mounting Focus on Squelching Wage Pressure and Service Sector Prices
June 29, 2023
The leaders of the Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan participated in a panel discussion yesterday. Powell, Bailey, and Lagarde attempted to outdo each other in displaying their commitment to lowering inflation. Whatever the cost in the short run, each insisted the long-term costs would be even greater if […] More
Swedish Central Bank Rate Hike
April 26, 2023
The Swedish Riksbank repo rate was raised by an as-expected half percentage point to a 14-1/2 year high of 3.5%. The rate had been has low as -0.5% prior to a hike in December 2019 and was at zero percent as recently as a year ago. Four increases later had lifted the repo rate to […] More
Fresh Concerns about the Banking System, But Also Some Good News from Tech Sector
April 26, 2023
First Republic Bank’s deposit base hemorrhaged over $100 billion last quarter. This disclosure sent the company’s stock price plunging 49% overnight. In contrast, the earnings reports of Alphabet and other tech giants surprised on the upside, and the Nasdaq has risen 1.2% in futures trading. In overseas equity markets, Japan’s Nikkei stock index closed down […] More
Amid Elevated Inflation, Another Swedish Interest Rate Hike Made, and It Won’t Be the Last
February 9, 2023
The Executive Board at the Swedish Riksbank hiked their policy interest rate to a 15-year high of 3.0% from 2.5%. The pace of the central bank balance sheet reduction will also be increased in April via outright selling of Swedish government bonds, and the Board’s statement includes forward guidance indicating ” that the policy rate […] More
Dollar Down in Pre-Open Trading
February 9, 2023
The dollar fell broadly overnight, dropping 0.9% against the Australian and New Zealand dollars, 0.7% versus sterling, 0.5% relative to the euro and in weighted terms, 0.4% vis-a-vis the Japanese yen and Canadian dollar and 0.2% against the Chinese yuan. Equity markets have strengthened amid favorable earnings reports and soothing remarks from President Biden touting […] More
Several Central Bank Policy Meetings Elsewhere on This U.S. Thanksgiving Day
November 24, 2022
With the U.S. observing its quintessentially most unique holiday, the dollar continued to back off from recent highs, dropping 0.3% on a weighted DXY basis overnight and extending its cumulative decline from peak to 7.8%. The dollar lost 0.9% against the yen today and 0.6% versus sterling but just 0.1% relative to the euro. Prices […] More
Swedish Interest Rate Hike Surpasses Expectations
September 20, 2022
Officials at the Swedish Riksbank today exceeded street expectations with a policy interest rate hike of a full percentage point to 1.75%. The Executive Board’s statement indicates more hikes are probable during the coming half year and revising projected inflation sharply higher to calendar year averages of 8.6% in 2022, 8.5% in 2023, and 2.2% […] More
