BOJ July Meeting Summary: Watch Covid Spike Impact Before Deciding to End Financing Scheme 
–Board Members Continue Calling for Supporting Wage Hikes With Easing By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Bank of Japan board members argued for monitoring the impact of the resurgence in new Covid cases for now before deciding whether to end the program to support pandemic-hit small businesses in September as scheduled, according to the summary of […]
FOMC Lifts Funds Rate Another 75 Bp to Near ‘Neutral’ 2.25-2.50% Range
– Powell Signals More Hikes to Come but Unclear About Pace, Level – Powell Repeats Fed Needs ‘Compelling Evidence’ Inflation Heading To 2% Target – Amid Slowing, Powell Cites Risk of ‘Doing Too Much’ Or ‘Too Little’ Tightening – Powell Repeats Need ‘Moderately Restrictive’ 3-3.5% Funds Rate Range End-22 By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – […]
FOMC Hikes By 0.75 Pt As Expected; Bare-Bones Statement Cites Elevated Inflation
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday did the expected, a three-quarter point rate hike which brings monetary policy to the brink of tightening instead of simply removing accommodation. In a bare-bones statement, the FOMC saw spending and production “softened” along with still-robust job gains and elevated inflation. “The Committee is highly attentive […]
FOMC Set to Keep Ratcheting Rates Higher Despite Worries About ‘Oversteering’
By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Since raising short-term interest rates more aggressively in mid-June, misgivings have cropped up among Federal Reserve officials about raising rates too far, too fast, but such sentiments must contend with worsening inflation news that has made it all the more imperative in most minds to demonstrate the central bank’s […]
BOJ Kuroda Repeats No Plans for Rate Hike, Rapid Yen Drop Undesirable
By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda made it clear once again that the bank’s policymakers are “not considering raising interest rates at all” given their latest outlook that domestic inflation is unlikely to be anchored around its 2% target in the next few years. He told a post-meeting news conference […]
ECB Raises Key Rates by 50 Basis Points, Deviating from Forward Guidance
–Approval of Anti-Fragmentation Tool Allowed Front-Loaded Tightening, Says President Christine Lagarde –Lagarde does not provide forward guidance, says ECB data-dependent By Laurie Laird LONDON (MaceNews) – The European Central Bank raised interest rates by a much-higher than expected 50 basis points following its governing council meeting on Thursday, deviating from the carefully-worded forward guidance issued […]
BOJ Keeps Easing Stance; Revises Up CPI Forecast, Sees Slower FY22 GDP Growth
By Max Sato (MaceNews) – The Bank of Japan said Thursday it is maintaining its super-low interest rate targets along the yield curve and large asset purchases, as expected, to help the economy fully recover from the pandemic-caused slump and anchor inflation around its stable 2% target. To keep speculative market forces from pushing the […]
Bank of Canada Jacks Up Rate by 100 Bps to 2.5% as Bank ‘Front-loads’ Rate Hikes
–BOC: Interest Rates Need to Rise Further, Pace Up to Economic Assessment –BOC: Canadian Economy in Excess Demand, Inflation High and Broad –BOC Revises Up CPI Forecasts for Next Few Years, Sees Slower GDP Growth By Max Sato (MaceNews) – The Bank of Canada on Wednesday surprised the markets by jacking up its policy interest […]
Fed’s George: Fed Must ‘Act Decisively’ Vs. Inflation, But Not Too Fast
– Case for Tightening ‘Clear-Cut’ But Speed ‘An Open Question’ – Hiking Rates Too Fast Could Create ‘Strains,’ Increase Recession Risks – Warns of Inverting Yield Curve, Upsetting Markets While Shrinking Balance Sheet – Urges More ‘Steady’ And ‘Predictable’ Rate Hikes By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George […]
BOI’s Visco: Second Rate Hike in September ‘Appropriate’ if Long-Term Inflation Forecasts Do Not Improve
ROME (MaceNews) – Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said on Friday that a second rate hike in September by the European Central Bank could be “appropriate” if long-term inflation forecasts do not improve. Talking at Italy’s annual banking lobby ABI conference, Visco argued, however, that monetary policy normalization, particularly including any additional rate hikes […]