Interest rates
Rate round-up: Brazil hikes, most hold, Russia cuts
Brazil raises policy rate to 9.5%, Russia cuts to 8.25%; United States, Poland and New Zealand hold
Hungary cuts as critical opposition sweep to power
National Bank of Hungary trims rates by 25 bps as opposition election victory puts central bank on collision course with incoming government; former governor expected to be named finance minister
Israel welcomes new law, no sign of rate-setters yet
Bank of Israel law creating a six-member Monetary Committee officially passed and governor Stanley Fischer thanks those who contributed, government has not yet begun search for external members
Don't raise rates too late, ECB's Bini Smaghi warns
ECB board member Bini Smaghi offers recommendations to policymakers on strategy towards tightening policy
Canada scraps commitment to hold rates; signals hike
Bank of Canada drops conditional commitment to hold overnight rate at 0.25%; pledge one of a number made by central banks to soothe markets’ nerves
India hikes again as food price inflation catches on
Reserve Bank of India raises both repo and reverse repo rates by 25 basis points as headline inflation stops just short of 10%, draws $1.25 trillion out of system
SF Fed's Yellen says low rates appropriate
San Francisco Federal Reserve president says Fed can rely on interest on reserves to keep balance sheet large
Thailand likely to postpone hike as protests turn bloody
Bank of Thailand will put off rate normalisation till June in order to soothe markets rattled by clashes between anti-government protestors and army, say analysts
Norges Bank: discretionary policy as good as simple rule policy
Norges Bank paper shows that optimal monetary policy is equally as effective in conducting policies as a simple rule system.
Poland’s search to find new governor on hold for now
Warsaw remains in mourning over the death of 96 members of its political elite following a plane crash on Saturday morning, in which both President Lech Kaczynski and central bank governor Slawomir Skrzypek were killed
SF Fed: crisis showed simple policy rules more effective
San Francisico Fed paper reaffirms strength of simple policy guideline to monetary policy but stresses need for international framework
NY Fed's Dudley demands new bubble-bursting tools
New York Fed president calls for a judgment-based approach to dealing with asset price bubbles
Sarb: prime rate to repo rate spread immaterial
South African Reserve Bank paper finds the spread between its repo rate and the prime rate has no real implications for policy
Fed minutes note pickup in labour, credit conditions
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s last meeting acknowledge signs of life in the US economy, but Kansas chief Thomas Hoenig dissents on low rates pledge
Greenspan deflects blame during heated testimony
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan defends record but accepts some criticism
Aussie dollar boosted as RBA hikes again
Reserve Bank of Australia increases benchmark rate to 4.25%
IMF: credit markets key to economic recovery
IMF study shows that a healthy financial sector is essential to a speedy recovery in the economy
Denmark shoots down covered bonds idea
Danish governor argues against reforms to adjust requirements on covered bond collateral but concedes change is necessary
Goodfriend: interest on reserves best exit policy
Marvin Goodfriend offers Congress advice on how to exit from the Fed’s accommodative stance without disrupting markets
Norges Bank’s Gjedrem on rate decisions
Svein Gjedrem offers cautious outlook for growth following rate decision last week
Rate round-up
Israel hikes but raft of others cut, including Hungary, Russia, South Africa and Romania
Central banks, not debt will kill growth: economist
Independent economist Roger Nightingale charges that debt on its own is not incompatible with growth, but raising rates will kill growth
Fed: macro models ignored lower bound of yield curve
San Francisco Fed constructs an augmented version of macro-finance model following financial crisis
Bank explains UK housing bubble
Bank of England study links rising house prices to lower real long-term rates and lower inflation in the run up to the bubble