Central Banking
Fed shocks with half point but signals easing over
US - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed interest rates by a sharp half percentage point to new four-decade lows to try to reignite the recovery, but signalled it planned no more cuts any time soon.
Cautious Bank of England holds rates steady at 4%
UK - The Bank of England on Thursday left is main interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent for the twelfth consecutive month, despite the US Federal Reserve's unexpectedly large rate cut on Wednesday.
Bank of England News Release
NEWS RELEASE - Bank of England Maintains Interest Rates at 4.0%, 7 November.
ECB Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - At today's meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the minimum bid rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 3.25%, 4.25…
International Monetary Fund Working Paper
RESEARCH - International Monetary Fund Working Paper 'Transparency and International Investor Behavior' by R Gaston Gelos and Shang-Jin Wei. The paper looks at whether country "transparency" affect international portfolio investment and finds that…
Duisenberg should stop suffocating Europe
ARTICLE - In the autumn of 1998, amid the storm of the Asian crisis, Europe's central bankers referred to Europe as an "island of stability". They were roundly criticised by their US friends who felt that the world economy was enduring its worst…
Lack of mavericks 'poses threat' to MPC committee
UK - The Bank of England risks making mistakes in its interest rate decisions because of a lack of maverick thinkers and a growing tendency towards consensus on its monetary policy committee, according to Capital Economics, a consultancy.
Doubts over Japan recovery
UK - Data released Wednesday suggested Japan's fragile export-led recovery might have peaked.
ECB refuses to join Fed rate cut for now
GERMANY - The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, opting not to join the U.S. Federal Reserve in monetary easing aimed at propping up the faltering global economy.
Padoa-Schioppa on the euro and the role of ERM II
SPEECH - In the speech 'Trajectories towards the euro and the role of ERM II' made on 4 November, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa of the ECB said ERM II should be seen as a meaningful framework within which to achieve further real and nominal convergence. In…
RBA holds interest rates steady again
AUSTRALIA - The Reserve Bank of Australia, in a widely anticipated response to a worsening global economy and the growing impact of the drought, announced on Wednesday that it had decided to leave interest rates on hold for a fifth month.
SEC chairman Harvey Pitt resigns
US - US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt resigned under pressure Tuesday night after a series of political missteps that embarrassed the Bush White House just when it needed to shore up investors unnerved by accounting scandals.
UAE to tighten rules for 'terrorist' cash system
UAE - The United Arab Emirates is to tighten regulations for the hawala remittance system, the unofficial method of transferring money home used by millions of Asian and other expatriate workers in oil-rich Gulf states.
Following the Fed
ARTICLE - The Federal Reserve has its foot over the gas pedal. An attempt today to speed up the US economy seems almost certain; rarely does the Fed send signals to the financial markets that it is about to cut interest rates, only to disappoint. Whether…
Dislodging the Fed Fantasy
ARTICLE - One of the absurd ideas that took hold in the late 1990s was that the Federal Reserve, presided over by the almost-infallible Alan Greenspan, had essentially conquered the business cycle.
Euro rises above $1 mark in trading
GERMANY - The euro rose above a dollar Tuesday and hit its highest level against the U.S. currency in more than three months amid fears that the U.S. economic recovery may be faltering.
Argentine markets edge up, but worried about IMF
ARGENTINA - Argentine stocks inched higher, while the peso firmed slightly on Tuesday as the Central Bank sold dollars into the market to offset investor nervousness about a stalemate in aid talks with the IMF.
Takenaka admits Japan's debt-deflation spiral
JAPAN - Japan's economic and financial services 'super-minister', Heizo Takenaka, formally acknowledged Tuesday that the nation's economy is caught in a 'vicious circle' of debt and deflation, and that it will be difficult to get the government's own…
IADB chief praises Argentine crisis strategy
ARGENTINA - Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) President Enrique Iglesias on Tuesday praised Argentina's strategy to try and end its worst ever economic crisis, even though it has caused a standoff between the government and the IMF.
Latvia nominate ex c banker as next prime minister
LATVIA - Einars Repse, a former head of the Central Bank who campaigned against corruption, was nominated Tuesday to be the next prime minister of the former Soviet republic.
Russian gov't to cancel currency regulations 2007
RUSSIA - The Russian government plans to completely cancel currency regulations starting in 2007, the Vedomosti daily business newspaper reported on Tuesday, quoting First Deputy Finance Minister Aleksey Ulyukayev.
The ECB and Euro-Area Enlargement
RESEARCH - IMF Working Paper by Helge Berger, October 2002. The likely enlargement of euro-area membership will radically change the environment under which monetary policy will be made in the euro area. This paper looks at the consequences of such an…
Danmarks Nationalbank Monetary Review, 3rd Quarter
REPORT - Denmark's central bank has published its Monetary Review 3rd Quarter 2002. The report contains articles including, Recent Economic and Monetary Trends, Status of the Basle Committee's New Capital-Adequacy Rules for Bank, Structure of the Banks'…
Norges Bank Press Release
PRESS RELEASE - The payment systems have become more efficient, 6 November.