Swedish Riksbank
Price and Industrial Production Data, Fed Chair Powell Speaking, and More of the Trump Trial
February 10, 2021
The dollar is unchanged today on a trade-weighted basis and remains near a 2-week low. Equities closed up 1.9% in Hong Kong and 1.4% in China but only +0.2% in Japan. Share prices are pretty flat so far today in the U.K., France, Germany, and U.S. futures trading. Prices for WTI oil and Comex gold […] More
Swedish Riksbank
November 26, 2020
The Swedish Riksbank’s repo rate has been at 0% or negative since February 2015. It’s last change, a 25-basis point hike to zero percent, was done in December 2019. A statement after the just-completed latest policy review by the central bank’s Executive Board expands the size of the asset purchase program from SEK 500 billion […] More
Dollar Up Marginally, Stock Markets Mixed, and Americans Observe Thanksgiving Day
November 26, 2020
The U.S. Thanksgiving holiday is depriving financial markets of some degree of leadership. The dollar overnight drifted up 0.1-0.2% against the euro, loonie, yen, kiwi, Swiss franc and Australian dollar. The U.S. currency rose a bit more against the peso (0.4%) and sterling (0.3%). Stock markets in Asia closed up 1.4% in Indonesia, 1.0% in […] 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
Swedish Riksbank
July 1, 2020
The Swedish Riksbank repo rate was left unchanged at zero percent. It’s been at that level since a 25-basis point hike last December. In mid-March, however, officials at an unscheduled emergency meeting agree to purchase SEK 300 billion of assets during 2020 and to increase loans to banks. Today, those programs were loosened. The asset […] More
Stock Markets Open Third Quarter on a Downbeat Despite Higher Factory PMI Readings
July 1, 2020
Share prices fell 0.8% in Japan and show daily losses so far of about 1.5% in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The British Ftse is 1.1% weaker, and U.S. futures point to a drop at the open. Euroland’s June purchasing managers index printed at a 4-month high of 47.4, which is half a point above […] More
Dollar and Oil Price Down but Stock Markets Mostly Up
April 28, 2020
The dollar fell broadly overnight, with the biggest declines coming against the Mexican peso (1.5%), Norwegian krone (1.4%), and Swedish krona (1.2%). (The Swedish Riksbank released a dovish statement, but the Executive Board did not cut the zero percent repo rate as some had been expecting). The dollar also dropped by 0.6% relative to the […] More
Equity Markets Rise and Dollar Narrowly Mixed
February 12, 2020
Fed Chairman Powell will reprise yesterday’s upbeat Humphrey Hawkins testimony today before the Senate Banking Committee. He characterized the U.S. economy as “in a very good place” and said policy would react to the coronavirus impact only if such proves “persistent and material.” Recent remarks by other Fed officials such as Harker, Daly, and Bullard […] More
Swedish Riksbank Ends Negative Policy Rate Stance
December 19, 2019
The Executive Board of the Swedish Riksbank raised the repo rate to zero percent from -0.25%. Sweden’s central bank had been the first to experiment with a negative policy interest rate. Last January, such had been raised 25 basis points to -0.25%. A released statement from policymakers said policy remains expansionary. The repo rate is […] More
Thursday Rundown of Overnight News, Data Reports, and Central Bank Decisions
December 19, 2019
President Trump has been impeached by a House of Representatives partisan vote of 229-197. He will get a trial in the senate. Market movements today are mostly unremarkable. Sovereign debt yields are up. Equities are down a bit in Europe but started on an up note in the United States. New Zealand’s stock market rallied […] More
