Monetary Policy
ECB launches quantitative easing
Mario Draghi unveils additional asset purchase programme that will see the ECB buy sovereign and agency debt; a ‘large majority’ of governing council backed decision
BoE’s Miles: Monetary policy 'does not hold all the cards'
Monetary policy cannot be expected to achieve price stability 'in isolation from things fiscal’, argues David Miles, MPC member at the Bank of England
Danish central bank cuts rates for second time this week
National Bank of Denmark lowers deposit rate for second time in four days following ECB action; central bank will defend euro peg ‘vehemently', says analyst
New core inflation measure proposed in IMF paper
Measure proposed by researchers from IMF and Central Bank of Brazil takes into account both volatility and persistence, ensuring all relevant information is exploited
Lagarde: Divergent monetary policy could be a good thing
It could be 'helpful' for the global economy if the ECB eases more as the Fed starts tightening, Lagarde tells an audience in Davos; Summers warns eurozone QE not 'sufficient'
Canada cuts rate for ‘insurance’ against oil price drop
Stephen Poloz says the fall in oil prices in ‘unambiguously negative’ for the Canadian economy as central bank unveils first rate change in over four years
Great expectations: ECB set for QE showdown
Markets expect the ECB to announce a programme for buying €500 billion of sovereign bonds tomorrow, but the central bank retains the capacity to surprise
PBoC governor questions western central banks' ability to boost inflation
Speaking in Davos, Zhou Xiaochuan says 'monetary policy is not a panacea to reach targets', while Kenneth Rogoff says ECB QE will not be 'big enough'
Summers takes Germany to task over attitude towards debt
Speaking in London, former US treasury secretary says there is need to move beyond 'Calvinist idea' that debt is bad; questions impact of QE, macro-prudential policies
Eurozone banks report further easing in credit standards
The net percentage of banks reporting easier credit standards continues to grow; ECB survey finds banks’ participation in TLTROs is mostly driven by profitability
Dutch paper examines bank responses to wholesale funding shocks
Working paper published by The Netherlands Bank finds banks with large exposure to government bonds show ‘relatively stronger response’ to wholesale funding shocks
King says further easing unlikely to work
Former Bank of England governor warns monetary policy is reaching the limit of its ability to stimulate, with the global economy trapped in ‘quite serious disequilibria’
IMF: Central banks ‘must' ease if inflation expectations drop
Easing should be conducted through ‘other means' than interest rates if they are at ZLB, Fund argues in WEO update, which downgrades global growth forecast for 2015 to 3.5%
National Bank of Denmark heads deeper into negative territory
Unscheduled cut pushes deposit rate further below zero and leaves lending rate barely in the positive as krone comes under pressure ahead of expected ECB action
Leaning against the wind may boost shadow banking: BoE researchers
Contractionary monetary policy may encourage growth of shadow banking even as it restricts commercial banks, casting doubt on the ability of central banks to ‘lean against the wind’
BoJ opinion survey highlights shift in expectations
Survey of public opinion sees Japanese people increasingly pessimistic about the economy as a whole, but there are signs the Bank of Japan’s policy efforts may be paying dividends
Economists at SNB study reuse of collateral
Working paper estimates the level of reuse activity in the Swiss franc report market between 2006 and 2013, before analysing the drivers of it
Plosser: Regular monetary reports would force FOMC to ‘think more deeply’
Philadelphia Fed president Charles Plosser sets out why the Federal Reserve should publish a quarterly monetary policy report – part of which he and colleagues have already modelled
SNB shocks markets by abandoning euro ceiling ahead of ECB showdown
Swiss franc sharply appreciates against the euro in the wake of the Swiss National Bank’s decision to scrap the minimum exchange rate; central bank does not rule out ad hoc interventions
Rajan catches markets off guard with unscheduled rate cut
Markets get ‘pleasant surprise’ as Reserve Bank of India unveils a rate cut outside its normal policy schedule; analysts predict further cuts to come
Legal opinion opens door for ECB bond-buying programme
Adviser to ECJ deems OMTs ‘compatible’ with European law in a move described as an ‘overwhelming success’ for ECB; could nonetheless restrict central bank's role in Troika
Canada deputy warns lower oil prices likely 'to be bad' for the country
Timothy Lane says gains from recent price drop ‘will be more than reversed' as hit to local producers ‘spill over to the rest of the economy'
Carney: ECB has ‘tools and clarity of mandate' to hit inflation target
BoE governor says there is ‘every reason' to expect the ECB to take the ‘measures necessary' to tackle low inflation as he weighs in on several international issues in parliamentary hearing
Bank of Japan to release first bond market survey results in March
With new QQE measures introduced in October, Bank of Japan will conduct a new bond market survey in February to 'enhance dialogue with market participants'