Asia Economics Update Philippine rates to move up in the first half of 2010 Today the Philippine central bank (BSP) left its policy rate unchanged at 4%, as expected, and retained a neutral bias. The economic upswing will almost certainly continue but inflation still looks... 17th December 2009 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Monetary tightening will be gradual All inflation targeting economies in Latin America expanded in Q3, and growth looks set to continue at a decent pace over the next few quarters. As a result, we expect a modest rate hikes to begin in... 16th December 2009 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update Is “printing money” so bad for the dollar? It is often assumed that the Fed’s monetary expansion has been unambiguously bad news for the dollar and could eventually lead to a collapse in the US currency. The reality is more complicated. We... 14th December 2009 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Swiss National Bank’s exit will be very gradual By announcing an end to its corporate bond purchases, the Swiss National Bank has become the latest to start phasing out its unconventional policy support. But its downbeat forecasts for economic... 10th December 2009 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank of Korea signals policy rate will move up soon The Bank of Korea (BoK) left its policy rate at 2.00% today, as expected. More importantly, the Governor’s press conference commentary was hawkish and suggests that an interest rate hike is not far... 10th December 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update MPC pauses, but may need to do more in the new year The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) never looked likely to take any action today. But even though the Committee has slowed its rate of asset purchases, it might yet have to give the economy more... 10th December 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update MPC pauses, but may need to do more in the new year The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) never looked likely to take any action today. But even though the Committee has slowed its rate of asset purchases, it might yet have to give the economy more... 10th December 2009 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Swiss National Bank’s exit will be very gradual By announcing an end to its corporate bond purchases, the Swiss National Bank has become the latest to start phasing out its unconventional policy support. But its downbeat forecasts for economic... 10th December 2009 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update New Zealand signals earlier rate hikes The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), as expected, left its cash rate at 2.5%. But it brought forward the first projected hike to mid-2010 after steadfastly insisting up to now that rates would... 10th December 2009 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update ECB starting to phase out unconventional support The ECB confirmed today that it is phasing out its emergency lending to banks, and perhaps a bit more quickly than had been expected. But the Bank is still downbeat about the economic outlook and we... 3rd December 2009 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank Indonesia meanders to the exit Bank Indonesia (BI) left its policy rate at 6.5% today, as expected, and gave no indication that it is thinking about raising rates soon. We believe that the risks to inflation from keeping policy... 3rd December 2009 · 1 min read
BoE Watch MPC mulls alternatives to more QE With the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) likely to wait for February’s Inflation Report before reviewing its asset purchase programme, this week’s meeting should be a non-event. In any case, the... 3rd December 2009 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank of Thailand in no rush to hike The Bank of Thailand (BoT) left its policy interest rate unchanged at 1.25% today, as expected. The economy is recovering but at a far slower pace than the rest of Asia. Thailand is also more reliant... 2nd December 2009 · 1 min read
