Norges Bank on hold for now

Nov 02, 2015 03:39 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks

The Norges Bank is likely to keep its deposit rate unchanged at 0.75% for three key reasons. First, since the September policy meeting, Norwegian economic data have broadly been better than expected, illustrated by the...

Hawkish views from Jeffrey Lacker

Oct 30, 2015 12:30 pm UTC| Insights & Views Central Banks

Jeffrey M. Lacker, president of Richmond FED had been the only hawk last Wednesday, when policymakers chose to maintain current monetary policy accommodation by 9-1 vote. In a speech today, Mr. Lacker explained, why he...

Policy divergence between Fed and other central banks will continue to be a USD-positive factor

Oct 30, 2015 11:14 am UTC| Insights & Views Central Banks

The Federal Reserve left short-term interest rates unchanged earlier this week, but clearly highlighted the potential for tightening as soon as the December meeting. The committee made a clear decision to lean hard against...

BoJ's monetary base likely to increase further

Oct 30, 2015 09:02 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) refrained from easing monetary policy further today. The decision was taken by an 8-1 majority, even though the bank has slashed its inflation forecast by a large margin in its semi-annual...

Norges Bank’s ‘uncertainty premium’ weighed on NOK

Oct 30, 2015 07:57 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks

Norges Bank (NB) has really surprised the market several times over the past 12 months. For example, the market was strongly positioned for a rate cut at the policy meeting in March 2015 but when NB stayed on hold, the NOK...

No signs of inflation but BoJ does not expand QE

Oct 30, 2015 07:46 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks

There will be major problems because central banks world-wide are interfering in areas which they had better stay away from, as they cannot really influence developments. Nevertheless, the BoJs decision of last night is...

Monetary policy first line of defense for Norges Bank

Oct 30, 2015 07:40 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks

Norges Bank (NB) operates a so-called flexible inflation mandate that allows Governor Øystein Olsen to work towards both bringing inflation close to the long-term target of 2.5% and stabilising growth and...