Tag: monetary policy

January 25, 2024

Yesterday the Bank of Canada (BoC) kept rates unchanged in line with broad expectations. However, the bank did signal that interest rates have peaked via a change in the wording of the January 24th statement. The committee decided to move […]

January 10, 2024

The Japanese Yen has fallen back to mid-December’s lows against the US dollar on Wednesday as more weak wage data out of Japan weigh on any idea that tighter monetary policy there could be coming anytime soon. Japanese workers’ real, […]

December 28, 2023

2023 was a year that lessened the stature of central bank forward guidance. Forward guidance is a tool used by central banks to communicate monetary policy projections. Historically, markets viewed this messaging in high regard as it often tied into […]

September 14, 2023

Gold prices remain under pressure this Thursday after yesterday’s US CPI report showed elevated headline inflation despite a softer core inflation read. This translates through to sustained tight monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. Energy was the primary contributor to […]

April 18, 2023

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell recently testified before Congress on the current state of the US economy. In addition to monetary policy, Powell was questioned about the Fed’s regulatory proposals regarding cryptocurrencies and climate-related financial risks. Barely mentioned, however, was […]

March 22, 2023

Crude oil markets are trading cautiously like most others on Wednesday in Europe as investors await the United States Federal Reserve’s March monetary policy decision, due later in the global day. On a more market-specific note, a shock rise in […]

June 17, 2022

Contractionary monetary policy is the process whereby a central bank deploys various tools to lower inflation and the general level of economic activity. Central banks do so through a combination of interest rate hikes, raising the reserve requirements for commercial […]

October 8, 2021

Over the past five trading sessions, the performance of major bank stocks depicted an optimistic stance. The continued market optimism on the back of the Federal Reserve’s slightly hawkish stance on monetary policy is driving the bank stocks. Thus, yields […]

August 25, 2021

News reports that UK restaurants and supermarkets are running out of supplies could be long-term negative for the British Pound if it delays the eventual tightening of monetary policy by the Bank of England. McDonald’s, for example, said Tuesday that […]

August 24, 2020

There’s a 1-in-4 chance the economy could fall into a double-dip recession, according to a majority of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics. Two-thirds of NABE members say the economy has not yet come out of the […]

November 14, 2019

In an era of negative interest rates in Europe, monetary policy should not be geared towards appeasing the banking sector, BNP Paribas Chairman Jean Lemierre has said. Speaking to CNBC’s Annette Weisbach at the BNP Conference in London on Thursday, […]

September 19, 2019

U.S. stock futures on Thursday were bouncing around as Wall Street digests the second successive rate cut of 2019 by the Federal Reserve that is intended to forestall sluggish global growth and harmful trade clashes. However, the central bank failed […]

July 25, 2019

Gold futures settled sharply lower Thursday, reversing a morning climb, after the European Central Bank’s decision to signal its plan to ease monetary policy disappointed investors by not including immediate action or details of its likly efforts. The ECB said […]

June 12, 2019

As the market’s conviction of a rate cut keeps growing firmer, another Wall Street bank came out defying the consensus. UBS joined Goldman Sachs in warning that the market’s expectation for a rate cut is not realistic because recent economic […]

March 21, 2019

The U.S. dollar climbed in early Thursday trading, retracing some of its losses from the previous session that it incurred after the Federal Reserve reiterated its dovish monetary policy stance. The U.S. central bank cut its expectations for 2019 interest-rate […]

September 14, 2018

Speaking at last month’s economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell described vividly the challenges that central bankers face in a world of constant change and uncertainty. These challenges make it impossible for the Fed […]

August 6, 2018

Since the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) June meeting, indicators show the labor market has continued to strengthen, with economic activity rising at a strong rate. Job gains have been strong, on average, in recent months, and the unemployment rate […]

July 20, 2018

The Federal Reserve has no choice but to raise rates in defiance of President Donald Trump’s criticism of its monetary policy, an investment manager said Friday. In an interview with CNBC at the White House on Thursday, Trump lamented Fed […]

December 29, 2015

WHAT has quantitative easing (QE) done for us? Regular readers may be aware that your blogger is not the greatest fan of QE. But it should be criticised for the right reasons, not the wrong ones. It was not, as […]