Tag Archives: FED

Das Fed erhöht die Leitzinsen, doch die «Trump Reflation» bleibt aus. Bild: Carlos Barria (Keystone) Janet Yellen ist guten Mutes. Die Vorsitzende der amerikanischen Notenbank (Fed) und ihre Kollegen haben am Mittwoch den Leitzins abermals um 0,25 Prozentpunkte erhöht. Es war die vierte Zinserhöhung, seit das Fed im Dezember 2015 den Pfad der Nullzinsen verlassen hatte. Steigende Leitzinsen – konkret geht es dabei um die Federal Funds Rate, also den Zinssatz, zu dem sich Banken...

Yesterday morning we noted why, in light of the ongoing global bond rout, all eyes would be on the BOJ, and specifically whether Kuroda would engage his "Yield control" operation to stabilize the steepness of the JGB yield curve and implicitly support global bond yields in what DB said would be "full blown helicopter money" where the "BoJ is flying the copter over the US and may be about to become the new US government’s best friend." And sure enough that is precisely what Kuroda did last...

A couple of weeks ago, the four central banks that meet in the coming days were thought to be a big deal. Numerous Federal Reserve officials were preparing the market for a summer hike. Risks of a new downturn in Japan spurred speculation that BOJ would ease policy. On the other hand, the neither the Bank of England nor the Swiss National Bank were expected to move ahead of the UK referendum on June 23. Besides...

As widely expected, core personal consumer expenditure (PCE) inflation dropped back slightly in March in the US, while wage increases remained subdued in Q1. We now expect that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will hike rates only once in 2016, probably in September. Read the full report here In Friday's report on income and consumption, data were also published on the PCE deflator, the price measure targeted by the Fed in gauging inflation. The core PCE price index (excluding...

There are four events that will shape market psychology in the week ahead.  They are Yellen's speech to the NY Economic Club, US jobs data, eurozone March CPI and PMI, and Japan's Tankan Survey.   The broad backdrop is characterized by the rebuilding of risk appetites since the middle of February, though the MSCI emerging market equity index put in its low on January 20, as did the CRB Index.  The price of oil appeared to bottom then as well, but it retested the lows in mid-February and...

The FOMC sounded quite cautious and surprised at its meeting yesterday as it markedly revised down its Fed funds rate median projection for the end of this year. As widely expected, at yesterday’s FOMC meeting, the Fed chose to ‘stand pat’. Although yesterday's FOMC meeting was perceived as sounding ‘dovish’ and Fed funds rate projections were cut, the Fed still expects to hike at least twice this year. On our side, we continue to look for two rate hikes this year, the first probably in...

Today’s retail sales report was reassuring. We remain sanguine on consumption growth in 2016. Unsurprisingly, Fed Chair Yellen acknowledged the downside risks to the growth outlook but did not rule out a hike in March. Nominal total retail sales rose by 0.2% m-o-m in January, slightly above consensus expectations (+0.1%). Moreover, December’s number was revised up from -0.1% to +0.2%. Total sales were dented by a 3.1% m-o-m fall in nominal sales at gasoline stations (on the back of lower...

Published: 12th February 2016 Download issue: A turbulent start to a volatile year Global markets had a very difficult start to 2016, with equity markets experiencing one of the largest January falls in history, currency markets also seeing major disruption, and a sharp widening of spreads on high yield corporate bonds. By the end of the month, though, there were signs that a rebound was underway. Although the magnitude of the sell-off was clearly a concern, these developments are not out...

Quarterly wage data (ECI) for Q4 pointed to modest increases with no apparent pick-up in wage inflation. Although the January FOMC statement was not so dovish, we continue to believe the Fed will remain on hold in March. Besides GDP data, today saw some other key data being published: the quarterly Employment Cost Index (ECI), admittedly the most reliable measure of wages and salaries. Following Wednesday’s less-dovish-than-hoped FOMC statement, prolonged uncertainty over inflation...

Macroview The Fed no longer considers that the risks to the outlook are ‘balanced’. However, yesterday's statement was not particularly dovish. After its meeting earlier this week, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) published a statement where, as widely expected, it acknowledged that “economic growth slowed late last year”. It also added a comment that “the Committee is closely monitoring global economic and financial developments and is assessing their implications for the labor...