St Louis Fed’s Musalem Warns of Upside Risks to Inflation, Inflation Expectations
– FOMC Voter Says Policy Must Stay Restrictive Until Sure Inflation Headed To 2% By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President Alberto Musalem said Thursday that the risk of inflation worsening is greater than the risk of labor markets deteriorating, as he advocated a continued “restrictive” monetary policy stance. Musalem, […]
BofA Global Research Fund Manager Survey: Investors Embrace Upbeat World Growth Outlook
–Cash Levels Lowest Since 2010 By Vicki Schmelzer NEW YORK (MaceNews) – Global investors embraced an upbeat world growth outlook in February, as evidenced by the lowest cash level holdings since 2010, according to BofA Global Research’s monthly fund manager survey, released Tuesday. Eighty-two percent of those polled this month said a global recession was […]
Fed Officials Continue to See No Need to Cut Interest Rates Again for A While
–Updates with comments from Fed Gov. Waller By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – The Federal Reserve should be in no rush to resume interest rate reductions as it focuses on lowering inflation, so long as the labor market remains “solid,” Fed officials concurred Monday. As they have done since the the Fed’s rate-setting Federal Open […]
Fed’s Powell: Still ‘In No Hurry’ To Resume Cutting Short-Term Interest Rates
– FOMC Might Ease Earlier If Saw ‘Unexpected Weakness’ in Labor Market – Thinks ‘Neutral’ Federal Funds Rate Has Risen – Gives No Indication Fed Ready to Halt QT – Dodges Questions About Tariff Impact on Economy, Monetary Policy By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – With inflation still running too hot in an economy growing […]
Fed Officials Keep Door Open to Resumption of Easing, But Patient For Now
– Daly, Goolsbee, Collins, Bostic, Bowman All in Cautious ‘Wait and See’ Mode By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve officials have been united in supporting the Federal Open Market Committee’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged when the Fed’s rate-setting body met last Wednesday, but their seeming unanimity tends to fade into uncertainty […]
FOMC Pauses Rate Cuts Amid Uncertainty About Economic, Policy Outlook
– Powell: FOMC ‘In No Hurry’ To Adjust Rates; Policy, Economy ‘In Good Place’ – Powell: Need to See ‘Further Progress’ On Inflation; Watching Labor Market By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – After cutting interest rates at three consecutive meetings, the Federal Reserve’s policymaking Federal Open Market Committee kept them unchanged Wednesday and gave no […]
Bank of Canada Slows Rate Cut Pace to 25 Basis Points, Instead of Pausing amid Easing Inflation, in Pre-Emptive Strike Against Fallout from Trump Tariffs
–BOC Decides to End Quantitative Tightening; To Restart Asset Purchases in Early March–Governor Macklem: We Are Long Way from Needing Quantitative Easing–Macklem: USD/CAD Affected More by US Trade Policy Uncertainties Than by BOC’s Cumulative Rate Cuts By Max Sato (MaceNews) – The Bank of Canada trimmed its policy interest rate – the target for overnight […]
Preview: Bank of Canada Set to Slow Its Rate Cut Pace to 25 Basis Points Wednesday While Seeking Shelter from Imminent US Import Tariff Storm
By Max Sato (MaceNews) – The Bank of Canada is widely expected to trim its policy interest rate – the target for overnight lending rates – by a “more gradual” pace of 25 basis points to 3.0% on Wednesday in a pre-emptive move to help shield the economy from the threat of stiff tariffs on […]
Analysis: Bank of Japan Taking Another Step Forward but Still Halfway Toward Brave New World of Paying Interest on Loans
By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Bank of Japan policymakers have taken another step forward with their third rate hike this cycle, but they are still only hallway through their mission of hauling the economy from the lukewarm super-low borrowing costs toward the brave new world of paying normal levels of interest on loans. At its […]
Fed Officials Continue Cautious Monetary Policy Mood in Wake of December Data
By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve officials reaffirmed their sense of caution about the future course of monetary policy in wake of a surprisingly strong December employment report, which was widely interpreted as greatly diminishing hopes for interest rate cuts this year. Officials were already speaking hesitantly about resuming monetary easing, variously calling […]