Flat Dollar, Equities Mixed, Many Data Releases, and a Larger-than-Forecast Russian Interest Rate Hike October 25, 2024 Major dollar relationships show minimal net movement from Thursday closings. Equity markets fell 0.6% in Japan, 0.8% in India and New Zealand and Spain so far, but advanced by 0.7% in Taiwan, 0.6% in China, 0.5% in Hong…
Election Jitters in the United States and Japan October 24, 2024 Japanese voters go to the polls this Sunday to choose all 465 members of parliament’s lower house. This earlier-than-required general election was called by Prime Minister Ishiba after he was the LDP party election to replace former PM Kishida, who had stepped down. It’s…
Bank of Canada’s Overnight Rate Slashed 50 Basis Points to 3.75% October 23, 2024 The overnight interest rate, which had been held at a peak 5.0% from July 2023 until this past June, was cut today by the Bank of Canada’s Governing Council by 50 basis basis points. This doubled the ante of 25 basis…
Dollar Strengthens to Near 12-Week High October 23, 2024 The morning after the U.S. election is just two weeks away, and investors are betting that the winner of the presidential vote will not be apparent then or possibly for a week or more afterward. What financial markets are counting on is that the next FOMC…
Little Doubt that ECB Will Be Cutting its Interest Rate Today. Also Awaiting Turkish Central Bank Decision and Several U.S. Data Releases October 17, 2024 Consumer price inflation in the euro area last month was just revised downward by a tenth of a percentage point to a 41-month low of 1.7%. That’s below target and…
Thailand and the Philippines October 16, 2024 The Central Bank of the Philippines‘ key interest rate was lowered by 25 basis points today to 6.0% in a follow-up to an initial 25-bp cut in August. A peak of 6.5% had been reached in August 2023 after increases totaling 100 bps in 2023 and 350 bps…
Troubles in China, Big Drop in Oil Price, and Just Three Weeks Left Before America’s Election October 15, 2024 The latest barrage of stimulus measures from China’s government hasn’t persuaded doubting investors to believe the economy may be turning the corner. The Shanghai Composite index fell 2.5% today, dragging Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 3.7%…
Dollar Kicks Off Week on a Positive Note October 14, 2024 The weighted DXY dollar index rose 0.3% overnight to a nine-week high, with gains of 0.6% against the Swiss franc, kiwi and Aussie dollar, 0.4% relative to the Japanese yen, 0.3% versus the Chinese yuan and 0.2% vis-a-vis the euro, loonie, and sterling. Holidays…
Next Week’s Menu: October 12-18, 2024 October 11, 2024 Central Banks: The European Central Bank heads a list that also includes Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines of monetary authorities that will be reviewing their interest rate stances. Several Fed officials have planned speaking engagements including Bostic, Waller, Kugler, and Goolsbee. ECB President Lagarde and…
South Korea Gets Its First Central Bank Rate Cut October 11, 2024 The Bank of Korea, whose base rate had stayed at a peak 3.50% since a culminating 25-basis point increase in January 2023, finally joined the group of monetary authorities that have begun to lessen policy restrictiveness. Market players had anticipated this decision. Today’s…