GH_Lee

GH_Lee

Surprise rate hike! The Bank of England (BoE) delivered an interest rate hike of 0.15% during their monetary policy announcement last Thursday. Out of the nine committee members, eight voted for a rate hike while one voted for rate to remain unchanged at the previous 0.10%. All nine members voted for no change of corporate bond purchases at £20 billion and UK...

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Doubling the pace of QE tapering The Federal Reserve ended its final monetary policy meeting for the year with a bang. While holding interest rate unchanged at the target range of 0-0.25%, the central bank doubled the pace of quantitative easing (QE) tapering from the current $15 billion ($10 billion of Treasury securities + $5 billion of agency mortgage-backed...

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As widely expected, we see a further tightening of monetary policy from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) during the meeting on Wednesday. But the decision did not gain any positive market reaction for the New Zealand dollar as the 0.25% hike in interest rate had already been priced in. It was a 0.50% hike that the market was yearning for. Once the market did...

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Stellar jobs report The U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) delivered an optimistic tone when it announced that 531,000 jobs were created for the month of October. Adding a cherry on top of the cake, the number of jobs for August and September have been revised upwards by 117,000 and 118,000 respectively. Overall, a total of 766,000 jobs have been added to the...

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Fed starts tapering! The long-awaited taper meeting has finally arrived! The Federal Reserve announced during their monetary policy meeting on Thursday that it will begin slowing down its net asset purchases by $15 billion per month which comprises of $10 billion Treasury bonds and $5 billion agency mortgage-backed securities. The first round of tapering will...

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The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) concluded its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday with no change in its weekly A$4 billion bond purchases, aka quantitative easing (QE), while holding interest rate unchanged at 0.10%. What has changed during this meeting is the ending of the central bank’s yield curve control (YCC). Dropping the YCC It all began when the RBA...

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QE has ended. During the monetary policy meeting yesterday, the Bank of Canada (BoC) carried out a hawkish move. The initial expectation from the market was for the central bank to taper its quantitative easing (QE) from C$2 billion per week to C$1 billion per week. However, the BoC surprised the market by bringing its QE to a halt. Rate hike timeline carried...

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The ECB’s decision. The European Central Bank (ECB) held its interest rates unchanged during their monetary policy meeting yesterday. Main Refinancing Operations Rate: 0.00% Marginal Lending Facility Rate: 0.25% Deposit Facility Rate: -0.50% The size of its quantitative easing (QE) programmes remains unchanged as well. Asset Purchase Programme (APP):...

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The dovish tapering decision. During its monetary policy decision yesterday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept its cash rate unchanged at 0.10%. As promised, the central bank proceeded with its quantitative easing (QE) tapering plan announced back in the July’s meeting. What came as a surprise is the duration of the new round of QE. Previously, the RBA...

GH_Lee

Jobs growth in August way off market’s expectation. Last Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 235,000 jobs being created in August, way below the market’s expectation of 720,000. The leisure and hospitality sector, the main driver behind the strong jobs growth for the past several months, added zero jobs amid the rise in COVID cases. With the...

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The last-minute decision. During their monetary policy meeting earlier today, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) carried out a last-minute change in decision, holding its overnight cash rate unchanged at 0.25%. New COVID case in six months thwarted RBNZ’s rate hike plan. Just yesterday, the first local COVID case was reported in New Zealand in six months....

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Prices stagnate in July. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a continued rise in the prices of goods and services in July albeit at a slower pace while annual inflation has stagnated as expected. The key driver behind the slowdown in inflation comes from the strong deceleration in price rise of used cars and trucks (+0.2%). At the same time, prices...

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KEY POINTS: In July, 943,000 jobs were created Highest figure since August 2020; main driver of this strong increase is the Leisure and Hospitality sector Number of jobs created in June was revised upwards from 850,000 to 938,000 Number of jobs created in May was also revised upwards from 583,000 to 614,000 Total number of jobs at the moment is...

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Three days ago, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) delivered a little surprise when it decided to stick with its quantitative easing (QE) plan announced back in July despite the recent spike in COVID cases in Australia. (Refer to my post "RBA Sticks With QE Tapering Plan (04 August 2021)" on RBA monetary policy) Details on why the central bank decides to...

GH_Lee

The BoE’s decision. As widely expected, the Bank of England (BoE) carried out no change to its monetary policy during its meeting yesterday. Interest rate remains at 0.10% with all eight voting committee members voting for no change. Quantitative easing (QE) remains at £895 billion in total. Michael Saunders, one of the hawks of BoE, voted for a reduction in...

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Just a couple of days before the release of the long-awaited U.S. nonfarm jobs report, several Federal Reserve committee members expressed their hawkish views on an QE tapering. Fed Vice Chairman sees QE tapering to start this year. During his speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics yesterday, Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said that...

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The RBA’s decision. During their monetary policy meeting yesterday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) kept its monetary policy unchanged, holding interest rate at 0.10% and quantitative easing (QE) at a rate of A$5 billion per week. A little surprise. With the recent spike in COVID cases in Australia due to the highly contagious Delta variant, the market was...

GH_Lee

The Fed’s decision. The U.S. Federal Reserve delivered no surprise during their monetary policy meeting earlier today as widely expected. The Federal Funds Rate was held unchanged at the target range of 0-0.25% while quantitative easing remains at $120 billion per month ($80 billion of Treasury securities and $40 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities). ...