Tuesday Rebound in Financial Markets Looks Fragile In Face of Escalating Showdowns April 22, 2025 President Trump has not been deterred by yesterday’s emphatic market thumbs-down against his attack on the Federal Reserve’s independence. Calling Fed Chairman Powell a “major loser,” Trump asserted that inflation is not now a problem but that the Fed’s indecision…
Dollar Weakens as Fed’s Independence Over Interest-Rate Policy Comes Under Further Attack April 21, 2025 (195) Many domestic financial markets around world remain either fully or partially closed for the extended Easter holiday including most of Europe, much of Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Nonetheless, there are two big stories this morning. Pope…
Next Week’s Menu: April 19-25, 2025 April 18, 2025 Central Banks: Interest rate policies will be reviewed in China, Indonesia and Russia. The Federal Reserve Beige Book of regional economic conditions gets published, and Chicago Fed President Goolsbee speaks publicly. So will Bailey and Lombardelli of the Bank of England and Dutch Central Bank President…
Further Interest Rate Cut in Euroland April 18, 2025 All three major interest rates at the European Central Bank were indeed cut yesterday morning by the expected 25 basis points, resulting in a cumulative decline of the deposit rate since last June to 175 basis points to 2.25% and 210 bps to 2.40% in the central…
Turkish Rate Hike April 18, 2025 In a big surprise, officials at the Central Bank of Turkey (TCMB) lifted their interest rate yesterday by 350 basis points on the heels of three cuts of 250 bps undertaken between December and March. The new rate becomes 46.0%, defying analyst expectations that it was going to be…
Egyptian Interest Rate Cut April 18, 2025 The Central Bank of Egypt slashed its overnight deposit rate by 225 basis points to 25.0%. A peak of 27.25% had been maintained previously since March 2024. Similarly-sized reductions were made in the overnight lending rate and discount rates to 26.0% and 25.5%, respectively. A released statement proclaims…
World Financial Markets Quieted by Widely Shared Good Friday Holiday Observances April 18, 2025 Today is a holiday in Australia, New Zealand, most of Europe and the Western Hemisphere, and many places in Europe. The weighted DXY dollar index fluctuated in a extremely narrow 0.2% high/low range overnight. Among stock markets that were open for…
Central Bank Policies in the Spotlight; Dollar and U.S. Equities Rebound April 17, 2025 The weighed dollar index recovered 0.5% from Wednesday’s intra-day low, with overnight gains of 0.5% against the Swiss franc and yen, 0.3% versus the yen, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc, and 0.1% relative to sterling. Ten-year sovereign debt yields, which had…
Better-Than-Forecast Chinese Data, Another U.S. Tariff Initiative, and a Speech From Fed Chairman Powell Later Today April 16, 2025 In overnight financial market action, the weighted DXY dollar index depreciated 0.6% and touched a 3-year low some 9.8% below its year-to-date high in mid-January. Dollar declines were pretty much across-the-board including losses of 0.9% against…
Market’s Attention Pivoting to How Central Banks Might React to Changing Global Outlook April 15, 2025 Whereas equities mostly rose Tuesday in Asia and Europe, U.S. stock futures are trading slightly in the red. Share prices closed up by 2.1% in India, 1.8% in Taiwan and Singapore, and 0.8% in Japan and have so far…