New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has said she is resigning, in an unexpected announcement that came as she confirmed a national election for October. At the party’s first caucus meeting of the year on Thursday, Ardern said she “no longer had enough in the tank” to do the job. …
Read More »BOE hikes policy rate by 50 bps to 3.5% as expected
Following its December policy meeting, the Bank of England (BoE) announced that it raised the policy rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 3.5% as expected. The vote was 6-3 in favor of the rate decision. Two members, Tenreyro and Dhingra, voted to keep rates at 3% while Mann voted …
Read More »Fed Hikes interest rate by half a percentage point as expected
The Federal Reserve has decided to raise interest rates by half a percentage point at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday to continue its fight against inflation. Inflation, as noted in Tuesday’s CPI report, has eased to 7.1% in the 12 months to November from a blistering …
Read More »Eurozone GDP grows at an annual rate of 2.3% in Q3
Eurostat reported Wednesday that seasonally adjusted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Euro area expanded at an annual rate of 2.3% in the third quarter. This reading followed the 4.2% growth recorded in the second quarter and came in higher than the initial estimate and the market expectation of 2.1%. …
Read More »Powell’s Speech Drags US Dollar Lower
In his first public appearance and remarks on the US economy since the post-FOMC policy decision press conference on November 2, where he warned of a higher terminal rate, Fed chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that it would “make sense to moderate pace of interest rate hikes”.Since the November …
Read More »FOMC Minutes: Most Policymakers Supported Slowing Rate Hiking Pace Soon
There is a prevalent state of volatility across financial assets in all markets following the release of FOMC meeting minutes that has showed a substantial majority of the board see slowing hikes soon.According to the minutes, the Fed says rate peak to be higher than previously expected. There are uncertain …
Read More »Canada: Retail Sales decline by 0.5% in September
Retail Sales in Canada declined by 0.5% on a monthly basis in September, the data published by Statistics Canada revealed on Tuesday. This reading followed August’s increase of 0.4% and came in slightly better than the market expectation for a decrease of 0.7%. Further details of the publication revealed that …
Read More »Breaking: Biden Warns “Inflation Will Take Time” To Recede
US President Joe Biden cautioned on Friday that ““it’s going to take time to get inflation back down to normal levels.”, but he assured that legislation he signed earlier this year will help limit costs for health care and energy.However, he said that “in six short weeks, Americans are going …
Read More »Breaking: Fed’s Brainard suggests slower pace of rate hikes will come ‘soon’
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard indicated Monday that the central bank could soon slow the pace of its interest rate increases.With markets expecting a likely step down in December from the Fed’s rapid pace of rate increases this year, Brainard confirmed that a slowdown if not a stop is …
Read More »US annual CPI inflation declines to 7.7% in October
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday that inflation in the US, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), declined to 7.7% on a yearly basis in October from 8% in September. This reading came in below the market forecast of 8%. The Core CPI, which excludes …
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