TOKYO Bank of Japan policymakers would prefer to hold back additional monetary easing at their meeting on Friday, people familiar with the central bank’s thinking say, though global market volatility could yet force their hand. Even as slumping oil prices and ... More »
WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and acknowledge that turmoil in financial markets threatens its upbeat view of the U.S. economy, leaving the chances of a March hike diminished but alive. All 69 analysts... More »
DAVOS, Switzerland Central banks still have more firepower they can use to counter a slowdown in global growth, which does not change the outlook for recovery in the euro zone, European Economics Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Wednesday. In an interview... More »
SHANGHAI China’s economy grew at its weakest pace in a quarter of a century last year, raising hopes Beijing would cushion the slowdown with more stimulus policies, which in turn prompted a rally on the country’s rollercoaster share markets. Growth for 2015 as... More »
DAVOS, Switzerland Politicians and business leaders gathering in the Swiss Alps this week face an increasingly divided world, with the poor falling further behind the super-rich and political fissures in the United States, Europe and the Middle East running de... More »
SINGAPORE/TOKYO The safe haven yen sagged on Tuesday as China’s fourth-quarter economic growth matched expectations, but its losses were likely to be limited amid persisting worries about the global economic outlook. The dollar rose 0.4 percent against the yen... More »
CORALVILLE, Iowa U.S. Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said on Monday that the Federal Reserve should approach interest rate increases according to clear rules to make future hikes predictable. The U.S. senator from Florida commented on Fed policy... More »
SHANGHAI China guided its yuan currency higher on Monday, and offshore it surged against the dollar, spurred by what traders called aggressive intervention by Beijing, although Chinese stocks tumbled again as doubts persisted over policymakers’ intent. Perceiv... More »
LONDON China’s yuan again dominated moves on major foreign exchange markets on Monday, driven 1 percent higher against the dollar in offshore trade after reports of another round of aggressive intervention by Beijing. With Chinese stocks sinking a further 5 pe... More »
BERLIN Economic sentiment in the euro zone deteriorated more than expected in January as an economic slowdown in China and its impact on the world economy unsettled investors, survey data released on Monday showed. The Frankfurt-based Sentix research group’s i... More »
BENGALURU/NEW YORK The global economy finished last year on a fragile footing, with factory activity in China shrinking for the 10th month running in December, while euro zone manufacturing picked up but U.S. activity slowed. Coming on a day of volatility in A... More »
BAGHDAD Iraq’s central bank has increased the sale price of U.S. dollars to banks and currency exchange companies by 16 dinars, or 1.37 percent, as the government seeks to compensate a decline in oil revenue, a government official and the central bank said. Th... More »
FRANKFURT The European Central Bank will keep monetary policy easy for as long as necessary in light of risks such as slower growth in emerging economies, its chief economist said in an interview with a Belgian newspaper. The ECB cut its deposit rate earlier t... More »
LONDON One of the Bank of England’s policymakers who is considered most likely to call for higher interest rates believes the need for tighter monetary policy is “slightly less immediate” because of slow pay growth and falling oil prices, a newspaper reported.... More »
WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate on Friday ratified reforms to boost the representation of emerging economies at the International Monetary Fund as part of a budget bill that will clear the way for new industrial powerhouses like China and India to have more clout a... More »
ATHENS Greece faces relatively low debt servicing needs in the coming years and further debt relief is not a matter of urgency, Greek financial daily Naftemporiki quoted European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann as saying on Thursday. “In 20... More »
BEIJING The International Monetary Fund’s decision on Ukraine’s debt to Russia did not change anything to Moscow, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak told reporters in Beijing on Thursday. The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board decided t... More »
JAKARTA Asia policymakers on Thursday applauded an historic turn in U.S. monetary policy, but analysts cautioned that the region’s economies faced vulnerabilities even as markets took the Federal Reserve rate hike in their stride. The prospect of the first hik... More »
SYDNEY Asian stock markets jumped on Thursday as investors chose to take an historic hike in U.S. interest rates as a mark of confidence in the world’s largest economy, lifting the dollar and piling on the pain for oil prices. European shares were expected to ... More »
SAN FRANCISCOThe world’s central banks are scrambling to assess the risk a slowing China poses to their economies and appear to be no closer than most other observers to working out what is going on in the world’s second largest economy. While the Reserve Bank... More »
NEW YORK Jeffrey Gundlach, the widely followed investor who runs DoubleLine Capital, said the U.S. economy faces a 30 percent chance of recession next year after the Federal Reserve’s first interest rate increase in nearly a decade on Wednesday. “Commodity pri... More »
CHICAGO The interest rate hike announced today by the Federal Reserve is a major milestone for retirees, who have been caught between a rock and hard place ever since the Great Recession, with zero interest rates and higher-than-average inflation. The Fed’s qu... More »
NEW YORK In the textbooks Zach Abrams studied to become a certified financial planner 10 years ago, there was talk of a curious strategy called ‘laddering CDs’. Yet since the 31-year-old has been a practicing financial adviser, it has not come up much. Parking... More »
LOS ANGELES For everyone who has been saying interest rates can only go up, well – now is their time. But what does the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates actually mean for your wallet? Probably not much for the near-term. One small interest ra... More »
TOKYO Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday he saw no need to implement negative deposit rates in Japan as borrowing costs were already very low due to the central bank’s aggressive asset purchases. The European Central Bank has adopted negativ... More »
SYDNEY Asian share markets turned mixed on Monday as caution grew ahead of Chinese data, though sentiment stayed supported by hopes the U.S. economy would be able to handle an expected first increase in interest rates in almost a decade. Oil prices were near t... More »
TOKYO Bank of Japan board member Takehiro Sato said on Monday the impact of its quantitative easing is likely diminishing, as long-term interest rates have not declined much since the central bank increased debt purchases in October 2014. Sato said the BOJ can... More »
LONDON The outlook for British manufacturing next year has darkened, with output and new orders deteriorating at rates not seen since 2009, according to an industry survey on Monday that warned of slowing growth both at home and abroad. Manufacturing organizat... More »
FRANKFURT Hints by Mario Draghi ahead of last Thursday’s ECB rate meeting that the euro zone may need another big injection of money backfired, stiffening the resolve of more conservative central bankers who criticized him for raising expectations too high, so... More »
WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve Board on Friday named the chairs and deputy chairs of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks for 2016. The Fed’s Washington-based board appoints three of the nine directors at each of the regional banks and selects the chair and d... More »
LONDON A perceived lack of ambition in the European Central Bank’s latest stimulus efforts left financial markets with a niggling worry on Thursday that even ‘Super Mario’ Draghi might not be able to drag euro zone inflation back up to target. A bare minimum 0... More »
FRANKFURT The European Central Bank looks set to continue to support the economy as the euro zone’s upswing broadens and strengthens, Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Thursday. “The ECB has been accommodative … supportive for the economic recovery a... More »
FRANKFURT European Central Bank President Mario Draghi called on Thursday for euro zone member states to do more to improve the economy. Saying that the ECB’s easy monetary policy has been “a success”, Draghi said there nonetheless needed to be more. “Actions ... More »
LONDON The U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank are expected to deliver sharply contrasting policy decisions next month, reflecting how the world’s two largest economies have moved from the Great Recession to the Great Divide. The U.S. and euro zone ... More »
TOKYO/SYDNEY The dollar edged up to a fresh 8-1/2-month high against a basket of global currencies on Monday, while the prospect of further stimulus this week by the European Central Bank kept the euro on the defensive. The dollar index added about 0.1 percent... More »
WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve Board will consider on Monday a proposal to curb its emergency lending powers, a change demanded by Congress after the central bank’s controversial decision to aid AIG (AIG.N), Citigroup (C.N) and others in 2008. A proposed rule,... More »
BRASILIA A Brazilian judge on Thursday denied a request for the release of Grupo BTG Pactual SA (BBTG11.SA) top executive, Andre Esteves, who was arrested a day earlier for allegedly obstructing a massive corruption probe at state-run oil company Petrobras. Su... More »
SYDNEY The euro sagged to a seven-month trough on Monday as the prospect of more policy easing in Europe benefited the U.S. dollar, while activity in Asian shares was crimped by a holiday in Japan. The strength of the dollar also combined with worries about Ch... More »
ROME Italy will use a new system set up by its central bank to save four small savings banks from failure before stricter rules for winding down lenders come in next year, banking sources told Reuters. The rescue will be conducted by the Bank of Italy at a cos... More »
ZURICH The Swiss National Bank should make more efforts to protect Switzerland’s economy from the impact of an overvalued franc, economists told several Swiss newspapers. The SNB abandoned its cap on the franc in January and is instead using negative interest ... More »
BERKELEY, Calif. U.S. central bankers not only regularly leak secret information about monetary policy, but the leaks are so predictably timed that a savvy investor without access to the leaked information could make money just by buying stocks in certain week... More »
FRANKFURT The European Central Bank is ready to act quickly to boost anemic inflation in the euro zone, its president said on Friday, offering the strongest hint yet that the bank will unveil fresh stimulus measures at its Dec. 3 meeting. Mario Draghi highligh... More »
LONDON U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs tipped a higher dollar as its top trade for 2016 on Thursday, heading a list that also bet on rising U.S. inflation and long-dated Italian bonds outperforming German bonds. Goldman said big U.S. banks will outperform t... More »
TOKYO Japan slipped into its fourth technical recession in five years between July and September – spotlighting how the government’s “Abenomics” policies have struggled to drag the economy out of chronic stagnation. Official data on Monday showed the world’s t... More »
LONDON The euro hit a 6 1/2-month low against the yen and was pinned down near 7-month troughs against the dollar on Monday after the deadly attacks in Paris led to a bout of global risk aversion and kept investors cautious on the common currency. The Swiss fr... More »
TOKYO Japan has expressed concern to China about the pace of capital outflows from the country and has suggested Beijing moves very slowly in reforming its currency system to avoid repeating Japan’s past mistakes. After a summer of market turmoil, China now ap... More »
NEW YORK DoubleLine Capital co-founder Jeffrey Gundlach said on Sunday that the Federal Reserve may hesitate to raise rates given rocky economic and financial conditions, though the Paris attacks alone are unlikely to play a factor in next month’s decision. Th... More »
PARISGlobal trade flows have fallen dangerously close to levels usually associated with a global recession, although actions taken by China and others should ensure a pick-up in 2016, the OECD said in a report on Monday. The Paris-based Organisation for Econom... More »
LONDONThe dollar took a breather on Monday having surged to a seven-month high, while emerging, commodity and bond markets had a nervy feel after strong U.S. jobs data boosted bets on a December Federal Reserve rate hike. European .FTEU3 and Asian .MIAPJ0000PU... More »
LONDONGlobal regulators set out their “final tools” on Monday for ending the phenomenon of “too big to fail” banks, seeking to draw a line under a period of intensive rule making after a financial crisis that tarnished the sector and weighed heavily on taxpaye... More »
NEW YORKDoubleLine Capital co-founder Jeffrey Gundlach, widely followed for his investment calls, warned on Thursday that the U.S. Federal Reserve should not raise rates in December as economic and financial conditions have become vulnerable. Gundlach said the... More »
BRUSSELSThe euro zone may need to spend only 10 billion euros or less to help recapitalize Greek banks, a senior EU official said, after an ECB test showed the sector would need an extra 14.4 billion euros of capital if major risks materialized. Euro zone cred... More »
LONDONEuro zone private business growth remained tepid last month but activity in China’s services industry expanded at its fastest pace in three months, easing concerns about persistent weakness in its economy, surveys showed on Wednesday. There was little si... More »
LONDON The U.S. dollar fell on Monday, as appetite for risk waned amid downbeat Chinese factory surveys, which also lent support to the low-yielding euro and the safe-haven yen. Demand for both currencies has risen in recent times when worry about a sharp Chin... More »
SYDNEY Activity in China’s colossal factory sector shrank in October as global demand stuttered, reinforcing the case for more stimulus and questioning whether the Federal Reserve can be confident enough to raise U.S. interest rates this year. A crop of indust... More »
TOKYO Asian stocks slid to their lowest level in nearly three weeks on Monday, as profit taking set in after soft Chinese factory surveys and U.S. consumer spending data raised concerns over the global economic outlook. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific sh... More »
Six big U.S. banks need to raise an additional $120 billion, most likely in long-term debt, under a rule proposed on Friday by the Federal Reserve. The requirements are aimed at ensuring that some of the biggest and most interconnected banks, which include Gol... More »
NEW YORK Oil gained on Friday while stocks on Wall Street closed lower even as major U.S. and European stock indices posted their best month in at least four years, boosted in part by accommodative monetary policies in the euro zone and Japan. Oil prices rose ... More »
TOKYO The Bank of Japan need not boost its massive monetary stimulus this week as the labor market remains tight, a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday. Koichi Hamada, an emeritus professor of economics at Yale University, also tol... More »
SAN FRANCISCO Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, praised as an adept listener and consensus builder, may need to adopt a stronger tone at this week’s policy meeting if she expects to keep a December interest rate rise in play. Yellen’s inclusive style has bee... More »
TOKYO Asian stocks on Monday were close to wiping out all their losses since China’s shock currency devaluation in August, as global equities rallied after the Chinese central bank cut rates and U.S. tech giants provided upbeat earning guidance. MSCI’s index o... More »
TOKYO The dollar dipped on Monday as the currency took a breather after scaling a 2-1/2-month high versus a basket of peers, although an improvement in risk appetite after China’s monetary easing limited the losses. Stock markets gained worldwide after China o... More »
BEIJING/SHANGHAI China’s ruling Communist Party opened a key meeting on Monday that will focus on financial reforms and how to maintain growth of around seven percent and more broadly map out economic and social targets for the next five years. The Central Com... More »
BEIJING Liberalizing China’s interest rates is a key element of financial reform, the country’s central bank said on Monday, adding that cutting borrowing costs and lowering the amount of cash banks must keep as reserves do not equate to quantitative easing. T... More »
NEW YORK Stocks rose in the United States and Europe and the dollar hit a three-week high against the euro after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said further rate cuts were being considered to stimulate the euro zone economy. The ECB, as widely ex... More »
TOKYO Japan’s economy is expected to have slowed sharply in the third quarter as demand across Asia ebbed, keeping the Bank of Japan and policymakers under pressure to inject more stimulus to revitalize growth, a Reuters poll found. The poll of 21 economists p... More »
WARSAW The euro zone needs additional measures, possibly looser fiscal policy, to secure economic growth, European Central Bank policymaker Ewald Nowotny said in an interview published on Monday. “This applies to structural reforms and fiscal policy,” he said ... More »
BEIJING China’s economic growth dipped below 7 percent for the first time since the global financial crisis on Monday, hurt partly by cooling investment, raising pressure on Beijing to further cut interest rates and take other measures to stoke activity. The w... More »
FRANKFURT U.S. rate hikes could have greater global repercussions than in the past and affect the euro zone more in some respects than the domestic market, European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio said on Thursday. A Federal Reserve rate rise woul... More »
HONG KONG Asian shares rose on Monday, extending an October rally, as investors hunted for bargains in industrials and basic materials, fueled by a rebound in commodities while the dollar struggled as hopes of a Fed rate rise this year faded. European stocks w... More »
SHANGHAI Now is not the right time for the United States to raise interest rates, given the global economic situation, China’s Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said in an interview published in the China Business News on Monday. Speaking on the sidelines of the annu... More »
SHANGHAI China’s stock market correction is “almost over”, the official China Securities Journal quoted a senior central banker as saying. Yi Gang, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China told an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and Worl... More »
LIMA, Peru A senior International Monetary Fund official has urged Japan to go ahead with a sales tax hike scheduled for April 2017 to maintain its long-term fiscal credibility. Mitsuhiro Furusawa, the IMF’s deputy managing director, warned on Sunday that flex... More »
BOSTON Eric Rosengren still expects the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year despite what the head of the Boston Fed called a “weak” September jobs report, which could signal a more significant economic slowdown that delays the policy tightening. ... More »
SEOUL South Korea’s central bank chief said on Monday economic growth this year will be near the 2.8 percent level the bank had forecast in July. The central bank will revise its forecasts later this month. “Domestic consumption is considered to be in recovery... More »
LONDON The world’s nine biggest insurance companies will have to hold more capital under new rules just finalised by global regulators that aim to prevent taxpayer bailouts of the industry in a crisis. Regulators decided to look at the multi-trillion dollar in... More »
WASHINGTON Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday that more corporate executives should have been prosecuted for their actions leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Bernanke told USA Today that the U.S... More »
OTTAWA One of the world’s most famous central bank chiefs, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, briefly became the late American actor Art Carney during a Canadian election debate on Friday. Gilles Duceppe, leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois party, refer... More »
Investors pulled $2.3 billion in assets from Pacific Investment Management Co’s flagship fund in September, up from $1.8 billion the previous month, as market sentiment soured over persisting concerns of the impact of Chinese slowdown on the global economy and... More »
The U.S. jobs data were a bust, China remains a threat, the Fed won’t hike until, well, don’t ask, and bad news is good news for the stock market once again. Stocks plunged and then rallied back to gains on Friday after payrolls data showed not just declining ... More »
NEW YORK DoubleLine Capital co-founder Jeffrey Gundlach, widely followed for his investment calls, warned after a weak non-farm payrolls report on Friday that the U.S. equity market as well as other risk markets including high-yield “junk” bonds face another r... More »
BRUSSELS Greece is likely to qualify for recapitalization funds for its banks by a Nov. 15 deadline because the payment depends mainly on financial sector reforms that it can implement by then, euro zone officials said on Friday. The euro zone bailout fund has... More »
Now that the U.S. Federal Reserve has held back again on interest rates, advisers are taking advantage of attractive financing options before that window begins to close. Mortgaging property when rates are low is well-known advice. But unprecedented transparen... More »
BENGALURU/LONDON World economic growth lost momentum in September, with China’s factory output shrinking again, euro zone manufacturing growth slowing, and U.S. activity steady. The latest business surveys across Asia, Europe and the Americas paint a gloomier ... More »
ATHENS Greece’s third-largest lender Eurobank (EURBr.AT) said on Monday its non-performing loans rose slightly in the second quarter while core income before bad debt provisions grew 1.1 percent from the previous quarter. Providing a performance update before ... More »
MUMBAI The Reserve Bank of India is expected cut its key repo rate to a four-year low on Tuesday to help support the domestic economy at a time when consumer inflation is at a record low, but may express caution about easing further as price risks still loom. ... More »
LONDON Euro zone inflation and U.S. jobs data will offer clues to the health of major developed economies in the coming week while the malaise gripping emerging markets is expected to prompt India to cut interest rates. China may release monthly foreign exchan... More »
China’s yuan slipped against the dollar on Monday after the central bank fixed a weaker guidance rate, traders said. The People’s Bank of China set the midpoint rate CNY=SAEC at 6.3676 per dollar prior to the market open, 0.11 percent weaker than the previous ... More »
PARIS Business confidence data from China and the euro zone will offer some pointers this week to where the global economy is going after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept markets guessing about when it will begin raising rates. With a Chinese slowdown blamed for ... More »
NEW YORK For U.S. banks’ bond trading desks, the Federal Reserve just made a bad quarter even worse, accentuating a longer-term decline in what was once their most lucrative business, executives, analysts and traders told Reuters. Bond trading volume is likely... More »
NEW YORK Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic adviser at Allianz SE, said Thursday that the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold off on a rate hike reflects policymakers’ reluctance to add to international financial fragility. The Fed kept interest rates unchang... More »
NEW YORK The global market volatility that upended investors over the last six weeks may last deep into autumn now that the Federal Reserve has decided to keep interest rates unchanged, several equity and fixed income portfolio managers said on Thursday. The F... More »
NEW YORK Jeffrey Gundlach, the widely followed investor who oversees DoubleLine Capital, said on Thursday the biggest surprise from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to keep rates unchanged was policymakers’ focus on recent global economic and financial deve... More »
LONDON A year after Mario Draghi said European Central Bank interest rates had reached bottom, euro zone money markets are discounting a fair chance they could be lowered again – regardless of rising interest rates across the Atlantic. The low bank-to-bank len... More »
TOKYO Asian shares rose in choppy trade on Monday after Chinese markets were hit by soft economic data, while the dollar sagged as investors questioned whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will be confident enough to raise rates for the first time in almost a deca... More »
SYDNEY/SINGAPORE The dollar inched lower on Monday with investors sticking to the sidelines as the countdown begins on whether the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. The euro edged up 0.1 percent to $1.1350 EUR=, ho... More »
LONDON Concerns over the world’s major emerging economies, and in particular China, are growing as financial investors reassess the outlook for global growth, the Bank of International Settlements said on Sunday. After a month of turmoil for stocks and commodi... More »
FRANKFURT The U.S. Federal Reserve takes center stage in the coming week, eclipsing industry data from China, another grim inflation reading from the euro zone and rate decisions in Japan and Switzerland. Guessing whether the Fed hikes rates on Thursday or opt... More »
We may well not get a global recession in the coming year or two but if we do, bank on one thing: an inadequate policy response. Citibank Chief Economist Willem Buiter attracted attention this week with a call for a 55 percent chance of a global recession some... More »
LONDON Investors pulled another $19 billion from equity funds over the past week as they sought safety in government bond funds, which have enjoyed the longest run of inflows in four years, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said on Friday. The exodus from emerging... More »
