Filtered by Topic: Monetary Policy Use setting Monetary Policy
The ECB’s failure to step up its asset purchase programmes at today’s monetary policy meeting will leave investors with nagging doubts about its commitment to underwrite government borrowing during the coronavirus crisis. Eventually, however, the lack of …
30th April 2020
The strict lockdowns have resulted in a massive drop in demand, but they have also been successful at ‘flattening the curve’ or reducing the number of new daily cases of Covid-19 in both countries. (See Chart 1.) The success means both countries are now …
Since the Fed had already gone all-in on its monetary policy stimulus, it was little surprise that there no major policy announcements in today’s statement. Over the next few months the Fed will continue to expand its balance sheet toward $10trn, albeit …
29th April 2020
Hungary’s central bank didn’t disappoint at today’s MPC meeting in announcing its bond purchase programme and it’s clear that policymakers have shifted their attention from keeping short-term rates low to pushing down long-term rates. But unlike bond …
28th April 2020
This morning’s decision by the Riksbank to leave its repo rate and crisis-related policy settings unchanged did not come as a big surprise. Nonetheless, it kept the door open for a rate cut, and we think that a return to negative interest rates is likely …
Italy and Spain suffering most, but some encouraging signs The Bank Lending Survey highlights the fact that demand has fallen much further in Italy and Spain than elsewhere. But it also suggests that loan guarantees and the ECB’s cheap loans to banks are …
Bank has started to roll back liquidity provision and bond purchases as tensions ease Unemployment set to remain above levels consistent with full employment for years Interest rates will have to remain low for longer than markets anticipate The continued …
The Bank of Japan today scaled up its measures to ease corporate and household financing strains significantly. However, the Board didn’t cut the policy rate even though all members expect a slump in activity. With our forecasts not miles away from the …
27th April 2020
The Russian central bank abandoned its cautious approach to the coronavirus outbreak by cutting its key policy rate by 50bp, to 5.50%, today and the accompanying communications gave the clearest possible indication that further easing is on the cards. …
24th April 2020
Norwegian economy sideswiped by Covid-19 Statistics Norway took the award for this week’s most irrelevant data release, with the unemployment rate from way back in February, but it more than made amends with the ahead-of-schedule publication of its Q1 GDP …
Second package is already too late After an underwhelming first attempt, a second fiscal stimulus package in response to the coronavirus and containment measures appears close following reports of a meeting between PM Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala …
PBOC continues to align its policy rates This Update was originally sent to clients as a Rapid Response immediately after the Targeted Medium-term Lending Facility was cut on 24 th April 2020. The People’s Bank (PBOC) has cut rates on yet another one of …
The €750bn Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme now looks too small. The less EU leaders achieve, the more the ECB will have to do. Further increase in bond purchases very likely, perhaps with explicit yield cap. The ECB has ramped up its asset purchases …
23rd April 2020
Having pulled out all the stops since its last scheduled policy meeting, in February, we suspect that the Riksbank will take stock next week. However, as the focus shifts away from monetary firefighting, we think that the Bank will return to negative …
Fed funds target range will be stuck at zero for foreseeable future Easing financial market stress suggests Treasury purchases will continue to slow But new lending facilities could eventually push balance sheet above $10trn With the Fed having already …
22nd April 2020
The Turkish central bank responded to signs of a clear downturn in the economy by cutting interest rates by a further 100bp today but, with downward pressure on the lira continuing to mount, we think that the scope for further monetary easing is limited. …
The ECB’s record pace of asset purchases is proving insufficient to bring bond spreads down. We think that it will need to step up the pace of purchases further, as well as expand the overall size of the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme well beyond …
Measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus will increase strains among traditional banks, but the shadow banking sector – still reeling from a large-scale default 18 months ago – is likely to fare even worse. Shadow banks have tended to lend to …
Funding strains not severe so major expansion in asset purchases not on the cards But looming slump in activity will derail efforts to reach 2% inflation Bank may also cut policy rate from -0.1% to -0.2% The Bank of Japan will probably take some …
The scale of the Fed’s purchases of Treasury securities in the first few weeks of the pandemic, in addition to the sheer size of the broader expansion in its balance sheet, arguably suggests that the Fed is not just monetising the deficit, but has …
20th April 2020
Overview - The restrictions imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus will result in GDP falling at a double-digit rate in Australia and New Zealand in Q2. While activity will bounce back over the coming months, unemployment is set to surge and …
Commercial banks lowered the Loan Prime Rate (LPR) today in response to last week’s policy rate cut. With economic conditions still weak, we expect further rate declines in the coming months. The one-year rate fell from 4.05% to 3.85% (both the Bloomberg …
The ECB is now buying assets at a record pace, but it is still struggling to keep a lid on bond yields. Last week the Bank bought over €35bn of assets, far more than the previous high of just under €25bn. Nevertheless, peripheral bond yields have begun to …
17th April 2020
The RBI has taken further steps to help banks and borrowers weather the collapse in economic activity from the coronavirus and containment measures in another emergency announcement today. The central bank also left the door open for further loosening, …
The central bank in the Philippines (BSP) today cut its policy rate by 50bp at an emergence meeting, and with economic activity in the country collapsing, we doubt this will be the last move from the Bank. Today’s decision came unannounced, but it was no …
16th April 2020
The Bank of France floated the idea recently that the ECB could use “helicopter money” to channel funds to companies after the worst of the current crisis has abated. While this idea has some attractions, there would be substantial political and practical …
15th April 2020
The People’s Bank (PBOC) has taken yet another step to help banks and borrowers weather the ongoing economic weakness and is preparing to lower interest rates further in the coming months. The PBOC has just cut the one-year rate at which it lends to banks …
Bank Indonesia (BI) today left interest rates unchanged at 4.5%, but the cut to the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) and dovish comments in the press conference suggest that further rate cuts are likely. The decision was a surprise. Having cut rates at its …
14th April 2020
We won’t know until the future whether or not the Bank of England has launched helicopter money as it depends if the rise in the money supply is temporary or permanent. But more important is whether it leads to much higher inflation. The markets don’t …
9th April 2020
Bank Indonesia gets space it needs to cut The value of the rupiah will be at the forefront of Bank Indonesia (BI) policymakers’ minds when they meet on Tuesday. Data published earlier this week show that foreign exchange reserves fell by almost 8% in …
The Bank of Korea’ (BoK) left rates on hold at 0.75% today and announced plans to purchase government bonds. There is scope for quantitative easing to have an impact, but there are limits to how effective it can be. As such, the role of supporting the …
With the Central Bank of Chile’s policy rate at its effective lower bound, we think that its next easing measure would be a quantitative easing programme aimed at flattening the long end of the yield curve. Chile’s central bank has eased policy …
8th April 2020
Congress is reportedly considering expanding support to small businesses US consumer confidence index likely to show its biggest ever fall in April (15.00 BST) We expect Korea’s central bank to cut its policy rate to an all-time low of 0.50% Key Market …
The ECB is using its balance sheet aggressively to provide cheap funding to banks and support peripheral government bond markets. But there is no guarantee that banks will maintain their volume of lending to the real economy, and there is a risk that the …
April meeting is last scheduled before Poloz’s term expires on 2 nd June Bank to provide guidance on duration of asset purchases, may add corporate bonds Set to slash its forecasts in new Monetary Policy Report The Bank of Canada could announce next week …
Rates slashed to rock bottom and generosity of lending enhanced Massive asset purchases are intended to boost liquidity and will be reduced in time But radical sustained support seems possible, carrying future inflation risks for some What a difference a …
Overview – Lockdowns will soon be imposed across much of Japan, triggering a decline of more than 10% in economic activity this quarter. The government’s latest fiscal package is intended to help firms stay afloat and to maintain employment while …
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) didn’t announce additional measures at today’s meeting and given the easing in tensions on financial markets we think it won’t adjust policy settings over the coming months. Looking further ahead though, the case for …
7th April 2020
We have compressed this edition of the Outlook to focus it on the most timely indicators. Overview – Strict containment measures in response to the coronavirus outbreak in India will have severe economic repercussions. We think the economy will grow by …
2nd April 2020
Tensions in interbank and bond market easing Corporate bond spreads remain high but not high enough for RBA to buy private bonds With inflation set to fall short of its target for years to come, negative rates still an option The recent easing in …
Chile’s central bank suggested that, having cut its policy rate to 0.5% yesterday, rates will remain at this low level for an extended period of time. But given the scale of the economic hit from the coronavirus, we think that the policy rate will, …
1st April 2020
Not quite the bloodbath expected, but worse to come While the Q1 Tankan survey held up slightly better than we were expecting, it still showed a marked deterioration in business conditions. And with sentiment set to deteriorate further as lockdowns across …
Policymakers in Peru and Chile have been quick to introduce economic policy and containment measures in response to the coronavirus, but peers elsewhere – particularly in Brazil and Mexico – have made less progress. This increases the risk that regional …
31st March 2020
While the SNB clearly favours using FX interventions to weaken the franc at present, persistent concerns about the size of its balance sheet would make it reticent to step in on an ever-greater scale. With no easy choices, we think that, if push came to …
30th March 2020
The People’s Bank (PBOC) has taken another step to loosen monetary conditions by lowering the rate at which it lends to banks. But the central bank’s job isn’t done yet and we anticipate continued efforts to reduce bank funding costs in the coming months. …
Concerns over Japan’s rising debt burden may prevent the government from pulling all the stops if the coronavirus outbreak escalates much further. As such, the chance that the Bank of Japan will provide a helping hand by directly financing public …
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) loosened policy today by reducing the slope of its policy band, and even though the outlook for growth and inflation is very downbeat, we don’t expect further loosening in the months ahead, given the limitations …
This week we got an early sight of just how rapidly the euro-zone economy is collapsing. Meanwhile, the ECB has finally ditched the issuer limits on its asset purchases, freeing itself up to support the sovereign bond market whole-heartedly. But EU …
27th March 2020
Better late than never While it’s been a relatively quiet week on the monetary policy front by recent standards, there is still plenty worth recapping here. The regular weekly data-dump from the SNB early on Monday morning indicated that the Bank made its …
While we still expect the economy to rebound strongly after the virus has been contained, the surge in Universal Credit benefit claims this week raises the risk that it won’t get back to “normal” as quickly as we had previously thought. Policymakers throw …
