German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble takes questions from reporters during a press conference with Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei (not pictured) at the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group in Washington October 7, 2016. REUTERS/James Lawle... More »
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 22, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid After a number of false starts since the term was first coined five years ago, the idea of a ‘Great Rotation’ out of bonds into ... More »
Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) new board member Takako Masai attends a news conference at the BOJ headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, June 30, 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hanai The election of Donald Trump as U.S. President, Brexit, and the weak state of the European Union’s financia... More »
The Federal Reserve Building stands in Washington April 3, 2012. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo Clues on future U.S. policy under Donald Trump rather than economic data are likely to dominate minds and markets in the week ahead, given a U.S. interest rate h... More »
Investors who are uneasy about inflation from possible tax cuts and federal spending under a Trump administration on Thursday scooped up a hefty chunk of the $11 billion of 10-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities the government offered. More »
European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio speaks during a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York February 19, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid The European Central Bank does not need to react to recent sharp increase in sovereign bond yields as post-ele... More »
The euro zone economy is on a solid run, with a string of good data pointing to a consumption-led recovery, but investment is still lagging so it is far from clear if forecasts need to be revised, ECB policymaker Yannis Stournaras said. More »
U.S. President elect Donald Trump speaks at election night rally in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo After Donald Trump’s unexpected victory in the U.S. presidential election, investors may refocus in the coming week o... More »
Logo of Swiss PostFinance bank is seen at a branch in Zurich, Switzerland August 22, 2016 REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann Swiss bank PostFinance [PFAG.UL] will start charging private customers for holding deposits of more than 1 million Swiss francs ($1 million), it sai... More »
Shoppers ride an escalator at a Target Store in Chicago, November 25, 201. REUTERS/John Gress The U.S. economy is on track to grow at a 3.1 percent annualized pace in the fourth quarter due to expected stronger consumer spending and equipment investments as we... More »
An employee of a bank counts US dollar notes at a branch in Hanoi, Vietnam May 16, 2016. REUTERS/Kham Politics dominated currency markets on Thursday as U.S. election worries kept the dollar weak against the yen JPY= while sterling rose more than one percent a... More »
A Chinook helicopter flies over the Bank of England in the City of London, Britain, November 3, 2016. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls The Bank of England scrapped plans to cut interest rates and said they could move in either direction as it ramped up its forecasts for... More »
The headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) are illuminated with a giant euro sign at the start of the ”Luminale, light and building” event in Frankfurt, Germany, March 12, 2016. EUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo Euro zone states should implement struc... More »
People sit outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during the morning commute in New York City, U.S., September 15, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid – RTSNWHN Just as memories of the financial crisis are fading and tough new banking regulations are beginning ... More »
Euro, Hong Kong dollar, U.S. dollar, Japanese yen, British pound and Chinese 100-yuan banknotes are seen in a picture illustration shot January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Illustration/File Photo The dollar inched up to a seven-month high against a basket of c... More »
A worker stands on a floor of a building under construction as he waits for a crane to deliver materials in central Sydney, Australia, June 1, 2016. REUTERS/David Gray Australia is forecast to enjoy at least another two years of solid economic growth, extendin... More »
China’s national flag is seen in front of cranes on a construction site at a commercial district in Beijing, China, January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon China’s economic growth is expected to cool to 6.6 percent this year and slow further to 6.5 percent in... More »
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren speaks during the Sasin Bangkok Forum in this July 9, 2012 file photo. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang By the middle of next year, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren says he expects unemployment to fall to 4.7 p... More »
A pile of one pound coins is seen in a photo illustration shot June 17, 2008. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Illustration/File Photo Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent said the pound’s fall after Britain voted to leave the European Union has acted as an impo... More »
Jeffrey Gundlach, Chief Executive Officer, DoubleLine Capital LP., speaks at the Sohn Investment Conference in New York City, U.S. May 4, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s speech on Friday on running a “high pressure” economy ... More »
Record global debt levels pose a clear risk to oil demand, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday, citing figures from the International Monetary Fund last week that showed the world is awash with a record $152 trillion in debt. More »
The logo of the Bank of Korea is seen on the top of its building in Seoul, South Korea, July 14, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji South Korea’s central bank is forecast to keep interest rate policy on hold on Thursday as board members weigh the risks from household d... More »
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi leaves an elevator after a meeting with German lawmakers in Berlin, Germany, September 28, 2016. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt Euro zone inflation could approach the ECB’s target by late 2018 or early 2019 and so far t... More »
A customer counts his U.S. dollar notes in a bank in Cairo, Egypt March 10, 2016. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh Monetary policy in developed markets like Japan and Europe is failing, and faltering in the U.S., in substantial part because globalization has altered... More »
Benoit Coeure, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), attends a Lamfalussy Lectures Conference in Budapest, Hungary, February 1, 2016. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh The euro zone risks falling into a trap of low growth and low interest rates... More »
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi waits to address the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels, Belgium, June 21, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo Economic imbalances within the euro zone risk destabil... More »
Arrangement of various world currencies including Chinese Yuan, US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, in this picture illustration taken January 25, 2011. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo The yen was holding strong on Monday in the face of another volle... More »
Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda attends a news conference at the BOJ headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Toru Hanai The pace at which the Bank of Japan buys bonds will depend on what is needed to achieve its yield curve targe... More »
Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank presents an oversized newly unveiled 10 euro note at the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, January 13, 2014. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski European regulators must tel... More »
The offices of Pacific Investment Management Co (PIMCO) (R) are shown in Newport Beach, California August 4, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Blake Global bond yields will rise modestly and spikes in volatility could be more commonplace in the coming years as loose central ... More »
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks during a news conference following the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting in Washington, DC, U.S. on March 16, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo Market volatility is low, U.S. census... More »
A staff member is seen at Alibaba Group’s new data centre in Zhangbei, Hebei province, China September 11, 2016. China Daily/via REUTERS Strong comments from China’s top state planner that the economy needed more support was most likely aimed at persuading the... More »
Bank of England Deputy Governor Minouche Shafik speaks during the bank’s quarterly inflation report news conference at the Bank of England in London August 13, 2014. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett Bank of England deputy governor Minouche Shafik will step down at the... More »
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari speaks during an interview at Reuters in New York February 17, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid With the Federal Reserve powerless to do much more than it already is, the best route to faster U.S. economic growth is throug... More »
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama discussed the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine at their meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in China’s Hangzhou, Russian media cited the Kremlin spokesman as saying on Monday. More »
Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda attends a news conference at the BOJ headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, July 29, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda signaled his readiness to ease monetary policy further using existing o... More »
A picture illustration of crumpled kuna, Dollar and euro banknotes, taken in Zagreb January 18, 2011. REUTERS/Nikola Solic Central bankers in charge of the vast bulk of the world’s economy delved deep into the weeds of money markets and interest rates over a t... More »
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., August 23, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Investors trimmed risk assets before a gathering of central bankers on Friday, pulling $6.4 billion from U.S.-based stock funds in... More »
By Douglas Busvine and Nidhi Verma | NEW DELHI NEW DELHI Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took aim at supporters of “terrorism” in his Independence Day speech on Monday, ratcheting up criticism of Pakistan while avoiding direct mention of month-long protest... More »
TOKYO Japan’s Ministry of Finance is negotiating with the country’s major banks to lend to the government at a zero interest rate in auctions beginning in October or November, a government official familiar with the procedure said on Monday. The government has... More »
By Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto | TOKYO TOKYO Japan’s economic growth ground to a halt in April-June as weak exports and shaky domestic demand prompted companies to cut spending, putting fresh pressure on premier Shinzo Abe to come up with policies that ... More »
By Leika Kihara | TOKYO TOKYO The Bank of Japan’s policy review could put up for debate its target for expanding base money through massive asset purchases, sources say, but the challenge would be to avoid spooking bond markets used to years of unprecedented b... More »
NEW YORK The U.S. economy is on track to grow at a 3.5 percent annualized rate in the third quarter following weaker-than-expected data on retail sales in July, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDP Now forecast model showed on Friday. The latest third-quarter GDP... More »
LONDON The New Zealand dollar surged to its highest level in more than a year on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand made smaller interest rate cuts than some had expected, forcing them to unwind their bets on more aggressive easing. The RBNZ said a... More »
LONDON/SYDNEY British manufacturers slammed on the brakes last month after the Brexit vote and growth eased in the euro zone, surveys indicated, with factories in China, Japan and elsewhere in Asia offering only crumbs of comfort. A U.S. version due later Mond... More »
LONDON The Bank of England looks ready to cut interest rates for the first time since 2009 on Thursday, seeking to stop Britain’s vote to leave the European Union from kicking the country into recession. It may even go a step further and pump billions of pound... More »
NUSA DUA, Indonesia The Federal Reserve should be cautious on interest rate increases due to lingering risks to the U.S. economy, one of its most influential policymakers said on Monday, appearing to signal the chance of a hike by the end of the year was fadin... More »
BEIJING Activity in China’s manufacturing sector eased unexpectedly in July as orders cooled and flooding disrupted business, an official survey showed, adding to fears the economy will slow in coming months unless the government steps up a huge spending spree... More »
FRANKFURT Central banks from Washington to Tokyo take center stage next week, although policymakers are likely to remain cautious as they wait for the dust to settle from Britain’s shock vote to leave the EU. As they wait for political reassurances and greater... More »
SINGAPORE Singapore’s central bank said it will enhance controls against money laundering and take swift action against banks following damaging findings that financial institutions in the city-state handled money flows linked to Malaysian state fund 1MDB. “Th... More »
SINGAPORE The Singapore central bank’s current monetary policy stance remains appropriate and only a marked worsening in the global economy or significant shift to the inflation outlook would prompt a change, its managing director said on Monday. The Monetary ... More »
SYDNEY Australian inflation likely braked to all-time lows in the second quarter, if analyst forecasts prove right, cementing the case for another cut in interest rates as early as next month. When underlying inflation slowed surprisingly sharply to a record l... More »
SEOUL South Korea’s economic growth was expected to show little improvement over April-June versus the first quarter in sequential terms, a Reuters poll found on Monday, as weak exports and capital investment continue to undermine growth. The economy was expec... More »
CHENGDU, China The world’s leading economies have discussed how to take advantage of their lower debt costs to spend more on investment as a way to boost weak economic growth, the head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said. “Alread... More »
NEW YORK U.S. interest rates futures fell on Friday but traders still saw less than a 50 percent probability the Federal Reserve would raise interest policy rates by year-end amid concerns about the global economy and possible stimuli from overseas central ban... More »
FRANKFURT The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday but left the door open to more policy stimulus, highlighting “great” uncertainty and abundant risks to the economic outlook. Signalling a readiness to act, ECB President Mario Draghi... More »
ANKARA The Turkish economy will not suffer permanently from Friday’s failed coup attempt despite a short-lived, downward impact on growth, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Monday. Simsek said Turkey’s macroeconomic fundamentals were solid and the go... More »
FRANKFURT European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is likely to plead for governments to do more to boost the euro zone’s economy in the coming week as the fallout of Britain’s vote to leave the EU and weaker global growth threaten the bloc’s fragile recov... More »
NEW YORK A BlackRock exchange-traded fund that tracks long-dated U.S. Treasuries was poised for its biggest weekly loss in 13 months as a rebound in stock markets worldwide stoked a sharp sell-off in U.S. government debt. BlackRock’s iShares 20-Plus Year Treas... More »
TOKYO The Bank of Japan will factor in the government’s planned fiscal stimulus package in producing new quarterly projections this month, which will help moderate any cuts to its inflation forecasts, sources familiar with its thinking said. The boost to growt... More »
KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia’s central bank surprised markets on Wednesday by cutting its key interest rate for the first time in seven years, saying the move would help the country remain on a “steady growth path”. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) cut the overnight policy... More »
SYDNEY The sharp rebound in U.S. job growth last month eased concerns that the country’s labor market had regressed, a top Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday, repeating she continues to expect gradual interest rate rises. Cleveland Fed President Lorett... More »
SYDNEY A change in interest rates will be on the table at every meeting of the Federal Reserve, but the timing of any move will depend on how the economy performs, a top Fed official said on Wednesday. Answering questions after a speech in Sydney, Federal Rese... More »
LONDON Britain’s 2.2 million financial industry workers face years of uncertainty and the risk of thousands of job cuts after the country voted to quit the European Union, an upheaval that threatens London’s dominance of finance. The ‘Vote Leave’ campaign fron... More »
NEW YORK J.P. Morgan expects the Federal Reserve would raise U.S. interest rates at its December policy meeting, three months later than its earlier call for such a move, in the wake of Thursday’s Brexit vote that stunned investors, a J.P. Morgan economist sai... More »
NEW YORK The British pound could weaken further in the next six months even if it enjoys a temporary rebound, a top BlackRock Inc investment strategist said on Friday after Britain voted to exit the European Union. “Sterling will weaken from here over the next... More »
FRANKFURT The European Central Bank is planning to give euro zone banks non-binding guidance by the end of 2016 or early 2017 to cut their bad debt pile, raising the heat on lenders but not forcing their hand, sources said. The ECB, which supervises 129 of the... More »
LUXEMBOURG Britain could not rejoin the European Union after leaving because membership requirements would be too onerous, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday. He said Thursday’s referendum on EU membership offered “no way back”. Since becoming a m... More »
FRANKFURT Central banks around the globe are preparing financial backstops to mitigate market turmoil in case Britons vote next week to leave the European Union, hoping to buffer the real economy from any short-term impact. Operating with so-called swap lines,... More »
OTTAWA Governments and central banks need a certain amount of coordination so they can discuss policies and consider the implications on debt levels and financial stability over the medium-term, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said on Saturday. One good ... More »
STOCKHOLM The latest disappointing U.S. jobs number has not changed the overall economic picture and gradual rate hikes remain appropriate, Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said on Saturday. The Fed raised rates in December for the first time... More »
WASHINGTON The U.S. economy created the fewest number of jobs in more than 5-1/2-years in May as manufacturing and construction employment fell sharply, which could make it harder for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Nonfarm payrolls increased by o... More »
TOKYO Japan would intervene in foreign exchange markets if the yen firmed to between 90-95 per dollar, even if it upset the United States, a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday, asserting the right to curb currency volatility. Koi... More »
BEIJING China’s consumer inflation remained modest in April, while producer prices’ four-year slump moderated as commodity prices rebounded, easing concerns about deflationary risks to the world’s second-largest economy. But analysts disagreed on whether the p... More »
BENGALURU/SYDNEY Asian factories barely grew in April and those in the euro zone did little better despite heavy discounting, setting a sluggish tone on Monday for the global economy in the second quarter. Japanese manufacturing activity shrank last month at t... More »
TOKYO Asian shares and the dollar dropped on Monday as investors took profits from the currency’s recent gains ahead of central bank meetings in the United States and Japan this week. Financial spreadbetters expected mixed openings for European markets, with B... More »
TOKYO Japan’s central bank is likely to cut its price forecasts on Thursday and debate whether a strong yen, weak global demand and soft consumption have hurt inflation expectations enough to warrant another blow of stimulus. The policy decision will be a clos... More »
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers are expected to hold interest rates steady when they meet this week, but may tweak their description of the economic outlook to reflect more benign conditions, leaving the path open for future rate rises... More »
VIENNA Europe and Japan’s central bank policies of negative interest rates are a “horror” and will run counter to the desired effect, Jeffrey Gundlach, the widely followed investor who runs DoubleLine Capital, said in an interview with a Swiss newspaper. Gundl... More »
AMSTERDAM Greece should prepare a package of additional measures to guarantee it will reach fiscal targets agreed with international lenders to conclude the bailout reform review, the head of euro zone finance ministers said on Friday. “We came to the conclusi... More »
BERLIN The next president of the European Central Bank should come from Germany, members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies said on Monday. German conservative politicians have complained loudly in recent weeks that the ECB’s ultra-low rates are cre... More »
FRANKFURT Almost a month after stoking a divisive debate about how far it should go in pumping money into the flagging euro zone economy, the European Central Bank is trying to soothe relations with Germany after unusually strong criticism from Berlin. Late la... More »
SYDNEY Australian retail sales were surprisingly muted in February, a red flag for hopes that consumer spending could offset global headwinds and keep the economy accelerating through the first half. Combined with a very subdued private-sector reading on infla... More »
NEW YORK The U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise short-term interest rates more than twice, if at all, in 2016, on expectations of slowing hiring in the second half of the year, a top bond manager at BlackRock, the world’s top asset manager said on Friday. Des... More »
TOKYO Driving interest rates below zero, the Bank of Japan has turned a comatose government bond market into an enormous free-for-all, complicating the central bank’s own efforts to kick-start growth and end deflation. The $9 trillion market for Japanese gover... More »
TOKYO Bank of Japan policymakers engaged in heated debate during their policy review in March on the pros and cons of their decision in January to adopt negative interest rates, with one even saying it was preferable to roll it back. A summary of the March 14-... More »
NEW YORK The dollar rose to a one-week high against a basket of currencies on Wednesday as Federal Reserve officials talked up the likelihood of more interest rates later this year, perhaps as early as April. The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the U.S. curren... More »
SAN FRANCISCO The Federal Reserve won’t raise interest rates this week, but will likely make clear that as long as U.S. inflation and jobs continue to strengthen, economic weakness overseas won’t stop rates from rising fairly soon. That will be a big change fr... More »
TOKYO Bank of Japan (BOJ) officials have been scurrying to commercial banks to explain and apologize for its surprise adoption of negative interest rates in January, while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has distanced himself from a decision that is proving unpopula... More »
ACAPULCO, Mexico BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said on Friday that China may be the biggest hurdle to global financial markets and that central bankers are adding to risks with negative-interest rate policies. “China does represent maybe mor... More »
NOTTINGHAM, England The Bank of England (BoE) is still more likely to raise interest rates than to cut them over the next two years, but it has plenty of scope to stimulate the economy if needed, one of the bank’s policymakers said on Tuesday. Martin Weale, in... More »
NEW YORK Stocks “can go up five, 10 percent, maybe” despite a slowing U.S. economy, BlackRock Inc’s chief investment officer of global fixed income Rick Rieder said on Tuesday. The market’s negative attitude towards the high-yield corporate debt market – relat... More »
NEW DELHI The government unveiled a budget for the poor on Monday, announcing new rural aid schemes and skimping on a bank bailout, in a strategy shift that seeks to boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party in coming state elections. Finance Minister ... More »
SHANGHAI Financial leaders of the world’s 20 biggest economies agreed to inform each other in advance about policy decisions that could lead to devaluations of their currencies, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Saturday. ... More »
HOUSTON It is still unclear whether the recent downturn in global financial markets will have any substantial impact on the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said on Tuesday, suggesting the episode may still pass without much effect o... More »
BRUSSELS International lenders are concerned with the quality of reforms in Greece, in exchange for which Athens is getting loans, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem told the European Parliament’s economic committee on Thursday. Di... More »
TOKYO The Bank of Japan could confuse markets and trigger a global competition to push interest rates deeper into negative territory by cutting its rates below zero, dissenters to the move told a rate review last month, underscoring Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s ... More »
LONDON Global markets have been in turmoil since the start of the year, with stocks and commodities prices reeling, eroding inflation and making central banks increasingly dovish – a trend that could continue with more weak economic data. China, a focus of muc... More »
SYDNEY January updates on Asia’s mammoth factory sector released on Monday showed the new year began much as the old one ended – with too much capacity chasing too little demand. China was again the epicentre of disappointment as its official measure of manufa... More »
BOSTON As 2016 shapes up to be even more unpredictable than last year, wealthy investors are planning to allocate more of their money to hedge funds focusing their bets on rates, currencies and commodities rather than stocks, a strategy which tends to fare bet... More »
