Filtered by Topic: Monetary Policy Use setting Monetary Policy
Banxico likely to begin cutting rates next month The minutes to the last Mexican central bank meeting, published yesterday, revealed a more dovish shift on the Bank’s Board than we had expected. We now think that an interest rate cut at the next meeting …
12th July 2019
Given the recent run of stronger economic data, we thought the Bank of Canada might sound a cautiously optimistic note following its policy meeting this week, but the statement remained relatively neutral. (See here .) That could be the first sign that …
Despite the rebound in monthly GDP growth from -0.4% m/m in April to +0.3% m/m in May, the economy probably just about contracted in Q2 as a whole. ( See here .) Some of that is just payback from activity being brought forward from Q2 into Q1 ahead of the …
South Africa: Steady as she goes at the SARB The re-appointment of South Africa’s respected central bank governor will help to allay fears concerning the independence of the Reserve Bank. Governor Lesetja Kganyago is a fierce defender of the bank’s …
A lot has happened since the Governing Council’s policy meeting on 6 th June, so the account published today has arguably been superseded by events. But it does confirm that even five weeks ago the Bank was gearing up for action. The account also hints at …
11th July 2019
Lagarde selection strengthens our conviction of ECB rate cuts and QE to come. Trump’s nominations may be less influential, but lend policy a dovish tilt. Next year’s change of guard at the Bank of England could be meaningful. Recent news about a number of …
Activity data for May added to the evidence that the economy rebounded following its contraction in Q1. Even so, we think that the Reserve Bank will cut its policy rate from 6.75% to 6.50% next week. Figures released today showed that manufacturing output …
While it is recognised that political developments, such as a no deal Brexit and a Labour government, have the capacity to send the economy in different directions, it’s not as well known that three economic trends are in train regardless – looser fiscal …
The large margin of victory for Brazil’s pension bill in its first vote in the lower house last night is likely to result in a rally in local markets later today, and makes an interest rate cut at the Copom meeting this month a done deal. We have also …
Although the tone of Bank of Canada’s monetary policy statement remained fairly neutral, its updated forecasts suggest that the Bank is losing faith in the economy’s short-term prospects. We continue to expect the Bank to cut interest rates in October. As …
10th July 2019
Chair Jerome Powell’s semi-annual testimony to Congress indicates that, despite the trade truce following the recent G20 meeting and the strength of employment growth in June, the Fed intends to push ahead with a rate cut at the FOMC meeting at the end of …
Inflation back below target opens door to easing The sharp drop in Brazilian inflation to 3.4% in June, which took it below the central bank’s target, suggests that policymakers will soon start to ease monetary policy. Barring any major hiccups with the …
Overview - Australia’s housing downturn will probably come to an end towards the end of the year. That means that the drag from falling housing wealth on consumer spending will subside. It also means that homebuilding will become more attractive again. …
Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) left interest rates unchanged at 3.0% today, but kept the door open to further easing. With growth set to slow in the second half of the year, we think the central bank will cut interest rates again soon. Today’s decision came …
9th July 2019
The dismissal of Turkey’s central bank governor over the weekend increases the chances of aggressive cuts in interest rates in the near-term. But it has also raised the risk of larger currency falls and is likely to make the country’s high inflation …
8th July 2019
The data this week were consistent with a continued slowdown in economic growth, but don’t yet look weak enough to convince the Fed to cut interest rates immediately. We suspect that Chair Jerome Powell will use his semi-annual testimony to Congress next …
5th July 2019
Developments this week make us more confident in our view that the ECB will change its forward guidance at its meeting on 27 th July, before cutting its deposit rate in September and announcing in October that it will re-launch QE. The first of these …
Swiss market shrugs off loss of ‘equivalence’ The Swiss stock market took the expiration of the ‘equivalence’ regime with the EU in its stride this week, mirroring the buoyant performance of other equity markets. The Swiss Market Index (SMI) jumped by …
Christine Lagarde’s nomination as ECB President makes us even more optimistic about the near-term outlook for government bonds in the euro-zone and reinforces our view that corporate bonds there will hold up better than elsewhere. We have argued for some …
Renewed drop in inflation to continue The renewed drop in inflation in June is likely to continue as the headline rate is dragged down by falling food and fuel price inflation, providing a green light for the central bank to cut rates in August. Today’s …
Broad money growth accelerated to a decade high in May, as past increases in interest rates boosted portfolio demand, but the more recent renewed slump in rates will trigger a slowdown in the second half of this year. (See Chart 1.) The decline in …
3rd July 2019
The relatively dovish stance adopted by Poland’s MPC in the communications accompanying today’s interest rate meeting supports our view that monetary policy settings will be left unchanged until the end of the Council’s term in early-2022. The decision by …
The decision by the Riksbank to leave its repo rate on hold at -0.25% this morning came as no surprise, but the fact that it left its (in our view) optimistic forecast for interest rates unchanged bucks the dovish trend by other central banks, notably the …
Yesterday’s announcement that Christine Lagarde will succeed Mario Draghi leaves us even more confident that the ECB will loosen monetary policy in the coming months. We think the Bank is likely to cut its deposit rate in September and re-launch QE before …
Swiss pension funds and life insurers have been among the losers from negative interest rates, but the SNB is unlikely to follow the Bank of Japan’s example of targeting long-term bond yields to limit the damage on the sector. Given that we now expect …
2nd July 2019
A rise in inflation has led five of the ten Polish MPC members to suggest that interest rates may soon need to be raised. But we doubt that any of the five more dovish members, including Governor Glapinski (who has the deciding vote in the event of a …
While the RBA lowered the cash rate to 1.0% at today’s meeting, it signalled that it won’t ease policy any further for now. However, we think that the Bank remains too optimistic about the outlook for the labour market and inflation. Accordingly, we’ve …
PMI readings not a barrier to policy loosening India’s manufacturing PMI reading remained consistent with decent output in June but it is unlikely be a barrier to further policy loosening. There is a high chance that a looser fiscal stance will be adopted …
1st July 2019
Swiss-EU stock market equivalence is no more The spat between the Swiss government and the EU came to a head this week after it became clear that the EC will follow through on its threat to let the current ‘equivalence’ regime for share trading lapse from …
28th June 2019
Dovish RBNZ As expected, the RBNZ kept the official cash rate on hold at 1.50% this week. But given the Bank’s dovish tone and our downbeat forecasts for New Zealand’s economy, we now think the RBNZ will cut rates twice this year. (See here .) Admittedly, …
While the performance of the US stock market in the Fed’s last four easing cycles was varied, our view remains that it will fall in the next one, which we expect to span from late-summer 2019 to spring 2020. The S&P 500 soared by nearly 15% in the …
27th June 2019
Following this morning’s decision by the Central Bank of Iceland (CBI) to cut its key interest rate by 25bps, we now think that further cuts are in the pipeline. However, to the extent that a rumoured fiscal stimulus and a weaker króna help to steady the …
26th June 2019
Recent comments by Mario Draghi suggest that the ECB will loosen policy sooner than we had anticipated. We now expect the Bank to strengthen its forward guidance in July and cut its deposit rate in September. Mr Draghi is then likely to go out with a bang …
The RBNZ’s dovish tone supports our view that the Bank will cut rates again before the year is out. In fact, we now think the Bank will cut at its next meeting in August, and once more at its November meeting. The Bank’s decision to hold rates unchanged …
The People’s Bank has pushed down overnight interbank rates to multi-year lows. This is partly a response to market jitters following the Baoshang Bank takeover and may partially reverse in the coming days. But we think that the broader shift toward …
25th June 2019
The surprise resignation of RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya – one of the most hawkish members of the MPC – boosts the chances of further rate cuts in the near term. But it should once again raise questions over the RBI’s credibility and its …
Ahead of the full budget for FY19/20 on 5th July, the early leaks have focused on potential changes to income taxes. By themselves, these won’t have a material impact on the fiscal position. But they would be indicative of a more accommodative fiscal …
21st June 2019
The RBA seems to be getting more concerned about a slowdown in China’s GDP growth and the recent slowdown in visitor arrivals from China will only exacerbate those worries. Meanwhile, Governor Lowe said that the RBA was unlikely to pursue QE anytime soon. …
Financial markets have come round rapidly in the last few weeks to our view that EM monetary policy will be loosened further this year. But EM loosening cycles have much more to do with weak domestic growth and low inflation than the prospect of interest …
20th June 2019
Although only a minority of Fed officials anticipate that interest rates will need to be cut at all this year and not a single official believes that rates will need to be reduced by more than 50bp in total over the next few years, the markets …
Given the drop in GDP in April and the fall in inflation back to target in May, there was never much chance that the MPC would raise interest rates from 0.75% today. What’s more, the tone of the statement and minutes followed the lead from the Fed and the …
Taiwan’s central bank (CBC) left interest rates unchanged today at 1.375%, and is likely to be in little rush to cut interest rates despite the poor outlook for growth. We expect interest rates to be left on hold until at least the end of this year. … …
Amid signs of a recent slowdown in economic growth, the Reserve Bank of India cut interest rates at a third consecutive meeting in early June, taking the repo rate to its lowest since 2010. What’s more, the change in the official policy stance from …
Bank Indonesia today left its policy rate unchanged at 6.0% but the decision to cut the reserve requirement ratio and the dovish shift in the central bank’s rhetoric suggests interest rates are likely to be cut soon. We now expect one 25bp rate cut this …
The central bank in the Philippines (BSP) kept its policy rate unchanged at 4.50% today, but it clearly left the door open to further easing. With inflation likely to fall back further over the coming months and growth set to disappoint, we expect two …
This morning’s decision by the Norges Bank to raise its policy rate from 1.00% to 1.25% came as no surprise. But while policymakers left the door open for further rates hikes in 2019, we think there is only room for one more 25bp hike in the current …
The Bank of Japan is showing no signs of shifting to a more dovish stance, despite the impending sales tax hike and moves towards easing by the Fed (and the ECB). As long as there is no sharp downturn after the tax hike in October, it will keep key policy …
The Brazilian Central Bank’s (BCB’s) cautious statement from last night’s meeting will disappoint the markets, which had expected Copom to lay the ground for the start of an easing cycle. With the economy probably now in recession and inflation falling, …
GDP growth in Q1 was stronger than the RBNZ had forecast and the Bank will have been encouraged by the government’s stimulatory Budget. As such, the RBNZ is likely to take a ‘wait and see’ approach when it leaves rates on hold on at 1.50% on Wednesday …
The Fed is now leaning towards lower interest rates later this year, but we still believe that the first rate cut will be delayed until September, with another 25bp reduction coming in December and then a final cut in March next year. … Fed breaks new …
19th June 2019
