The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held interest rates steady as expected and signaled it still plans multiple cuts before the end of the year. Following its two-day policy meeting, the central bank’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee said it will keep its benchmark overnight borrowing rate in a range between 5.25%-5.5%, where it has held … Read more
Amid reports that people in Argentina are buying Bitcoin to protect themselves from inflation, billionaire banker Uday Kotak today wondered whether the cryptocurrency is better than the Argentinian peso with 276% inflation. “When countries manage macro badly, savers move to protect the value of their savings. Traditionally it was gold. Now bitcoin too! While I … Read more
Plane contrails streak across the sky over Regent Street on February 15, 2024 in London, England. Dan Kitwood | Getty Images U.K. inflation came in lower than expected at 3.4% year-on-year in February, official figures showed Wednesday, down from 4% in January. Month-on-month, the headline consumer price index rose by 0.6%, returning to positive territory … Read more
Mumbai: A recent reduction in cooking gas prices is likely to exert a softening effect on inflation that’s also being aided by declining non-food prices, but monetary policy must remain in “risk-minimisation” mode to firmly bring consumer prices back to the legally mandated target, central bank economists said. “Fuel prices remain in deflation, and this … Read more
Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 06, 2024 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images The Federal Reserve has a lot to do at its meeting this week, but ultimately may not end up doing a … Read more
Neon advertisements in Osaka’s Dotonbori district in Japan Alexander Spatari | Moment | Getty Images Japan’s central bank on Tuesday finally ended its experiment with negative rates and unconventional easing tools which were aimed at reflating the world’s fourth-largest economy. The Bank of Japan’s decision came just days after Rengo, Japan’s largest federation of trade … Read more
The US Federal Reserve’s two-day monetary policy meeting is slated to begin later today, and the central bank is widely expected to stay put on interest rates after the recent data on inflation. Inflation data released last week showed that consumer prices in the US rose again in February. Consumer prices rose 0.4% for the … Read more
Economists expect the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day meeting this week, even though many experts anticipate the central bank is preparing to start cutting rates in the months ahead. In prepared remarks earlier this month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers don’t want to ease up too quickly. Powell … Read more
The window for interest rate cuts may be closing. On the eve of the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting, Wall Street forecaster Jim Bianco believes the central bank will likely stay on hold until next year. “I’m in the camp that the Fed does not change policy in the summer of an election year,” the … Read more
An eagle tops the U.S. Federal Reserve building’s facade in Washington, July 31, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/ Jonathan Ernst | Reuters The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank look poised to make “major progress” in cutting interest rates this year, according to the central bank of central banks. Agustín Carstens, general manager of the Bank … Read more
