The emerging trend of central banks talking like hawks and walking like doves amid supply chain disruptions and persistent inflation continued as the Bank of Canada kept its policy rate at 0.25% on Wednesday. … READ MORE >
monetary policy
FOMC meeting: Prelude to tapering amid global financial turbulence
This week’s FOMC meeting is not likely to include any meaningful announcement on tapering its monthly asset purchases and only a modest change in the Fed’s Summary of Economic Projections and dot plot interest rate forecast. … READ MORE >
Fed Jackson Hole conference: Powell reaffirms market expectations
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s widely anticipated comments on the economic outlook did not disappoint on Friday. He reaffirmed market expectations of a slowing in the pace of monetary accommodation before the end of the year while retaining flexibility around the rising economic risks linked to the delta variant. … READ MORE >
Federal Reserve policy and interest rates in 10 charts
Why the FOMC decided to maintain is accommodative monetary policies, as told in 10 charts. … READ MORE >
FOMC preview: Expect more talk, less action at the July meeting
Inflationary risk and the delta variant of the coronavirus will be front and center at next week’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, while policy changes will take a back seat. … READ MORE >
RSM Canada Financial Conditions Index: Accommodation to continue while economy shows signs of revitalization
The RSM Canada Financial Conditions Index continues to indicate reduced levels of risk being priced into the commodity, equity, bond and money markets. … READ MORE >
FOMC comment: Fed creates context to end pandemic policy efforts
At the monthly meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank kept its policy rate unchanged in a range between zero and 25 basis points. But it is clear we have entered the beginning of the end to the Fed’s emergency programs. … READ MORE >
What’s behind the recent decline in 10-year Treasury yields
The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds has dropped nearly 25 basis points to below 1.5%, touching 1.42% overnight on June 11 from its recent peak of 1.74% on March 31. … READ MORE >
Interest rate update: Recent increase shows progress on the path to normalization
The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds is approaching 1.7%, within 20 basis points of already low pre-pandemic rates. The move higher is in response to signs of an economic recovery and perceived risks around inflation. But sub-2% 10-year interest rates are far from what a healthy economy would support. … READ MORE >
Frothy markets and the risk to the economic outlook in the era of low interest rates
The Bloomberg U.S. Financial Conditions Plus Index has reached 2.9 standard deviations above neutral, an unprecedented level that signals the possibility of froth in asset markets. … READ MORE >