Australia™s central bank kept interest rates unchanged as it waits for three cuts since June to flow through to areas of the economy beyond the property market. Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe and his board kept the cash rate at 0.75% Tuesday, in line with expectations of economists and money markets. He will want to hold onto his remaining conventional ammunition -- estimated at two more cuts -- and monitor the impact of earlier easing and recent government tax rebates. The RBA™s final meeting of the year sees policy makers no closer to reviving wages growth and...
Australia's central bank is focused on the jobs market and said it will adjust policy if needed to support economic growth and keep inflation on track to return to target. In minutes of its July 2 meeting, when it cut interest rates for a second month to a record-low 1%, the Reserve Bank noted wages growth remained low overall and œspare capacity was likely to remain in the labor market for some time. The easing would œpromote stronger overall economic conditions, it said Tuesday. œThe extent of spare capacity in the economy, and the likely pace at which it would be absorbed,...
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday that the U.S. economy was hit by a severe œconfidence shock in May from which it has only partly recovered. œYou saw business confidence surveys¦quite negative, fairly broadly, Powell said, in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee. œSome of that has recovered, but only after the Fed œstepped forward and said it was willing in lower interest rates, Powell said. The Fed chairmans comments answer the question of why the central bank seems poised to ease monetary policy as soon as the end of the month. In his...
Many Federal Reserve officials said in their meeting in June that they would be willing to cut interest rates if the economy continued to struggle in coming weeks, according to minutes of the discussion released on Wednesday. Officials appeared caught off guard in mid-June about sudden "significant" signs of weakness in the economy, calling them "quite recent." Given how quickly things were developing, Fed officials decided to take a wait-and-see attitude. While almost all agreed to hold interest rates steady in June, "many" officials said rate cuts would be warranted if risks and...
In his prepared statement to be delivered at his semi-annual testimony to the Congress, Jerome Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, reiterated that the Fed will act 'as appropriate' to sustain the U.S. economic growth. With the initial reaction to Powell's statement, the US Dollar Index turned south and was last down 0.25% on the day at 97.25. Below are some key quotes, per Reuters. "It appears trade uncertainties and concerns about global economy continue to weigh on u.S. Economic outlook -prepared testimony." "Baseline outlook is for U.S. economic...
In his prepared remarks delivered at the Stress Testing Conference organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Jerome Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, didn't comment on the monetary policy outlook or the economy's state. There won't be a Q&A session and markets will be waiting for Atlanta Fed President Bostic and St. Louis Fed President Bullard's comments later in the session. Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index is holding on to modest daily gains above the 97.50 mark. Source: FXStreet
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Monday that the possibility of Britain leaving the European Union next month without a transition deal ranked as the riskiest Brexit scenario for the...
Bank of Japan maintains 10-year JGB yield target at about zero percent after ending a two-day meeting on Tuesday.
Keeps policy balance rate at -0.1%.
Central bank leaves forward guidance and asset...