Continuing Post-FOMC Market Repercussions August 1, 2024 Chairman Powell’s press conference yesterday gave as much encouragement as one could expect to speculation that the Federal Reserve will begin a cycle of interest rate reductions at its next meeting in September. One of his major themes was the return of labor market conditions to those just…
July 2024 in Figures July 31, 2024 From a geopolitical standpoint, July was a tumultuous month. Britain got a new government, and the second round of French elections deprived the Far Right of the win that had seemed inevitable. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Trump barely escaped an assassination attempt, and President Biden gave up his…
FOMC Statement and Powell’s Press Conference July 31, 2024 Today’s FOMC statement modified the prior statement of June 12 in two notable ways. First, labor market conditions depict less tightness, with job gains that were previously seen as strong being depicted now as having moderated and with the jobless rate still low but having moved…
Bank of Japan Announces Several Policy Changes July 31, 2024 Just four months ago, the BOJ made a baby step toward normalizing its ultra-loose monetary policy, ending the negative 0.1% short-term interest rate that had prevailed since January 2016, lifting such to 0.0-0.1%. By a 7-2 margin with two dissents in favor of another baby…
Second Quarter Euroland GDP Growth and Some Central Bank Rate Announcements July 30, 2024 A 0.6% rebound of the dollar against the Japanese yen was the singular significant movement overnight in the U.S. currency. The 10-year Japanese JGB yield fell two basis points, moving through 1.0% to 0.99%. Comparable U.S. and British sovereign debt yields…
Final Week of 2024 First Half Finding Crypto and Yen Struggling to Stay Above Important Levels June 24, 2024 The price of Bitcoin tokens plunged 3.5% overnight to a two-month low and within $860 of the psychological support of $60,000. The Japanese yen touched a low of 159.81 per dollar. Japanese intervention sales of foreign…
Next Week’s Menu: June 15-21, 2024 June 14, 2024 Central Banks: Monetary policy reviews are scheduled in China, Australia, Great Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Moldova, Indonesia, Brazil and Georgia. Central Bank policy minutes will be published in Japan and Canada. Goolsbee, Harker, Barkin and Kuglar of the Fed and Nagel and Schnabel of the European Central…
Bank of Japan Takes a Step Closer to Reducing Quantitative Stimulus June 14, 2024 While not raising its short-term interest rate additionally, the Board agreed by an 8-1 margin to begin lessening monthly asset purchases beginning after its next meeting in July and to give market forces a greater influence in determining Japanese long-term interest…
Far-Right Political Ascendance Around World Freaking Out Financial Markets June 14, 2024 The relationship between investors and left-right political balance is complicated. On the one hand, the very, very rich enjoy the tax policies favored by far-right politicians. At the same time, all market participants acting in concert are clearly unsettled by the swing of…
Interest Rate Cuts in Ukraine and Serbia June 13, 2024 The National Bank of Ukraine policy interest rate was lowered to 13.0% from 13.5%. In the early months after Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the interest rate had been catapulted from 10% to 25% and then kept at that level from June 2022…