The Bank of Japan held its benchmark interest rate steady and raised its inflation outlook more than expected in a sign it may be closer to a rate hike, while continuing to warn that it's still assessing the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs. The BOJ kept the overnight call rate at 0.5% at the end of a two-day policy meeting in a unanimous vote, according to a statement Thursday. All 56 surveyed economists forecast the decision. The nine-member board boosted its median inflation projection for the current fiscal year in its quarterly economic outlook report to 2.7%...
The Bank of England cut its main interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.25% on Thursday, despite an unexpected three-way split among policymakers as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs weigh on global economic growth. The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee voted 5-4 in favour of the decision to cut rates by a quarter point. Two members, Swati Dhingra and Alan Taylor, voted for a bigger half-point cut while Chief Economist Huw Pill and external member Catherine Mann wanted to keep interest rates on hold. The decision by the British central bank is its first since Trump announced...
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the economic impact of new tariffs is likely to be significantly larger than expected, and the central bank must make sure that doesn't lead to a growing inflation problem. "While uncertainty remains elevated, it is now becoming clear that the tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected," Powell said Friday at the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing annual conference. "The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth." Despite that view, in a...
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) maintained its cash rate at 4.1% during its April meeting, holding borrowing costs unchanged after slashing 25 bps in the February meeting, aligning with market consensus. The committee also kept the interest rate on Exchange Settlement balances at 4.0%. Source: Trading Economics
In an interview with CNBC on Friday, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said they should wait for things to get clearer when there is so much uncertainty. Key points "There has been a clear shift toward anxiety and anticipation of capital spending among business contacts." "The current conditions may be a shock to the economy depending on how long they last." "The Fed needs to be calm and take a long-term view of the economy." "Markets want information quickly but that's not realistic right now." "There's still a lot of strength in the economy right...
According to a statement by the Federal Reserve (Fed), Fed Chair Jerome Powell met with United States (US) President Donald Trump on Thursday, where the head of the Fed reiterated that the Fed's...
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) maintained its cash rate at 4.1% during its April meeting, holding borrowing costs unchanged after slashing 25 bps in the February meeting, aligning with market...