SNB Dials Down Interest-Rate Hiking With Quarter-Point Move
The Swiss National Bank delivered the smallest interest-rate hike since it began monetary tightening a year ago while signaling it may act again to tame inflation.
Policymakers led by President Thomas Jordan lifted the key rate by a quarter-point to 1.75%, matching forecasts by most economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
The step is aimed at “countering inflationary pressure, which has increased again,” Jordan said in Zurich. “It cannot be ruled out that additional rises in the SNB policy rate will be necessary to ensure price stability over the medium term.”
Source: Bloomberg
SNB won’t let slowing inflation stop a rate hike
Source: Bloomberg
China's central bank cuts the banks' 1-Y and 5-Y Loan Prime Rate #LPR by 10 bps for the first time since August
The People’s Bank of China cut two more key lending rates on Tuesday for the first time in 10 months to prop up growth in the world’s second largest economy. The Chinese central bank cut the one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points from 3.65% to 3.55%, and trimmed the five-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points from 4.3% to 4.2% — for the first time since August. Source: CNBC
Yen declines as BOJ sticks with super easy policy unlike peers
The Bank of Japan continued to defy global central bank trends by sticking with stimulus as it waits for signs of more sustainable inflation while its peers signal the need to raise interest rates further to rein in prices.
Governor Kazuo Ueda and his fellow board members left their negative interest rate and yield curve control program unchanged at the end of a two-day gathering and maintained their view that inflation will slow over the coming months, according to a statement Friday.
The yen declined after the decision, falling to around 141.40 per dollar. It had hit a seven-month low of 141.50 on Thursday.
Source: Bloomberg
The rate hikes marathon
Since the start of 2022: The Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark rate 10 times to 5.25% from 0.25%. The Bank of England has hiked its key rate 11 times to 4.5% from 0.25%. The European Central Bank increased its seven times to 3.75% from 0%. Source: Ignacio Ramirez Moreno
Fed left interest rates unchanged but suggest further hikes
Federal Reserve officials paused their series of interest-rate hikes but projected borrowing costs will go higher than previously expected.
Powell, speaking to reporters in a press conference Wednesday, faced the challenging task of explaining two possibly contradictory policies: deciding to leave rates unchanged following 10 straight hikes while also indicating that at least two more increases might be necessary this year, possibly as soon as July.
Source: Bloomberg
Federal Reserve to skip a rate hike
A gauge of dollar strength held near a one-month low on speculation the Federal Reserve will skip an interest-rate hike at a policy meeting ending Wednesday.
While US CPI data has cemented bets on a Fed pause, it also suggests that we might see more tightening later, which will ultimately slow the US economy.
Source: Bloomberg
ECB Balance Sheet is almost unchanged ahead of this week's meeting.
Total assets now at €7,714.4bn, equal to 57% of Eurozone GDP vs Fed's 32%, SNB's 121%, BoJ's 130%. Source: HolgerZ, Bloomberg
