US Treasury market starts trading for real today
Today, trading will resume in the US markets following a day of mourning for former president Ford. So, trading start the new year only today, but with an extremely busy and important calendar that contains the December ISM, car sales and ADP employment
report, the construction spending figures for November and the Minutes of the December [...]
Forex Investors Reduce USD Holdings On FOMC Minutes Release
Expectations continue to build that the Federal Reserve will pause its rates tightening cycle in August, this will result in Forex traders cutting their long USD positions.
The latest release of minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting (FOMC) revealed that Fed officials are uncertain about the future interest rate direction and are concerned about [...]
Forex – Dollar continues to suffer post-Fed fallout
The dollar (USD) continues to suffer from last week’s relatively dovish policy statement from the US Federal Reserve and a recovery in risk assets, such as equities.
Though the quarter point hike in the Fed funds rate to 5.25 pct was expected, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee cautioned about the outlook for growth. In response [...]
FOMC – Softer tone, but tightening bias retained
The US Federal Open Market Committee unanimously decided to raise interest rates by another 25bp during last week monetary policy meeting, taking the fed funds rate to 5.25%. More interestingly, the statement language was a notch more dovish than expected. While the FOMC does not promise anything for the August meeting, the overall message is [...]
Read more »Czech Interest Rates unchanged at 2.0%
The Czech central bank (CNB) kept interest rates unchanged last week for the eighth consecutive month, leaving its key policy rate at 2.00%. The decision was broadly expected, as inflation is still well contained. However, we think a restart of the tightening cycle is moving closer.
Read more »Polish Interest Rates on hold at 4.00%
As broadly expected, the Polish central bank’s (NBP) Monetary Policy Council (RPP) last week decided in favour of unchanged interest rates, keeping the key policy rate at 4.00%.
The decision to keep rates on hold should clearly be seem in the light of the fact that inflation remains very low – below 1%. That said, [...]
Slovak Interest Rate Unchanged at 4.00%
The Slovak central bank (NBS) board meeting ended without any changes leaving the key policy rate at 4.00%. This was broadly expected, especially given the 50bp hike at the May monetary policy meeting.
Today’s decision probably suggests an NBS that is biding its time and waiting for more macro-data on the economy, especially inflation, before [...]
Turkish Central Bank Raise Interest Rates to 17.25%
The Turkish central bank (TCMB) yesterday after its second emergency monetary policy meeting in just a month that it had decided to hike its key policy by another 225bp to 17.25% – more or less in line with expectations. Furthermore and equally important the TCMB announced that it plans to intervene in the FX market [...]
Read more »US consumer confidence shows surprise gain
US consumer confidence improved in June, the Conference Board reported, surprising many analysts expecting a decline.
The consumer confidence index rose to 105.7 in June after 104.7 in May. Analysts on average had expected a reading of 103.9.
“The slight bounce-back in confidence this month was a result of the moderate improvement in consumers’ expectations,” said Lynn [...]
US existing home sales fall 1.7 percent
Sales of existing homes in the United States fell 1.7 percent in May from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 6.67 million, the National Association of Realtors has said.
The decline was less steep than private economists’ forecasts of 6.61 million units, but still a sign of economic cooling as higher mortgage rates [...]
German business confidence increase better than expected: Ifo
Business confidence in Germany has improved by a better-than-expected rate in June, underlining ongoing robust recovery of Europe’s biggest economy.
Ifo, a widely watched business climate index, said Tuesday that its index for Germany rose to 106.8 in June from an upwardly revised 105.7 in May, beating expectations.
Economists polled by the AFX financial news wire had [...]
Australian Govt looking to secure Reserve Bank governor’s services
Australia’s Treasurer Peter Costello says he would like the Reserve Bank governor Ian Macfarlane to continue working with the Government once his time in the job ends.
Mr Macfarlane’s term will come to an end end in October this year.
The Treasurer would not be drawn today on just when a replacement will be named but paid [...]
China’s economy to maintain double-digit growth this year
China’s economy will grow by 10.3 percent in the first half of 2006, then slow marginally for a full-year expansion of 10 percent, the central bank said in a new report.
At the same time, inflation will climb slowly, registering 1.3 percent in the first six months of the year and 1.7 percent for the 12 [...]
United Arab Emirates plan to convert 10% of Forex Reserve from Dollars to Euros
The United Arab Emirates central bank has made no decision yet on diversifying its foreign exchange reserves and the current USD ratio is appropriate, the bank’s Governor Sultan Nasser Al Suweidi said yesterday.
However, he told Reuters in an interview that a shift remains the bank’s long-term objective.
“The board is making the decision but it [...]
Dollar (USD) Gain on Euro, GBP, Yen…
The USD drifted higher against major rivals as dealers monitored the outlook for interest rates, while the GBP also weakened on news that a Bank of England policymaker had suddenly died.
The Euro fell to 1.2637 dollars in early European trading from 1.2659 dollars late on Wednesday in New York.
The USD climbed to 115.14 yen from [...]
