NEW YORK Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic advisor at Allianz, said on Friday the Bank of Japan’s shocking move to take one of its main interest rates into negative territory underscored the country’s hope to weaken the yen to re-inflate its economy. “Count... More »
SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON In the U.S. Federal Reserve’s arsenal of tools the characterization of economic risks is heavy artillery, used to flag the moments when major events like the 2003 Iraq war or the near crack-up of the euro zone in 2011 make forecasting ... More »
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 »
BEIJING China’s economic growth in the fourth quarter slowed to the weakest since the financial crisis, adding pressure on a government that is struggling to restore the confidence of investors after perceived policy missteps jolted global markets. Concerns ab... 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 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 »
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 »
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 »
BEIJING China’s economic growth eased to 6.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, beating expectations but still the slowest since the global financial crisis, putting pressure on policymakers to roll out more support measures as fears of a sharpe... 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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 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 »
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 »
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 »
FRANKFURT Economic growth in the euro zone is still too weak to create a sufficient number of jobs, European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure told a French newspaper group EBRA on Friday. “Growth is still not strong enough to create a sufficie... More »
NEW YORK Stocks edged higher on Wall Street in another volatile session on Thursday while the euro fell 1 percent on a darkening euro zone outlook as investors grew cautious ahead of the closely watched U.S. monthly jobs report. Global stock markets rallied ea... More »
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. Central bankers from around the world are telling their American counterparts that they are ready for a U.S. interest rate hike and would prefer that the Federal Reserve make the move without further ado. In private and in public at last wee... More »
NEW YORK Traders priced in a more than 1-in-2 chance the U.S. Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in October after Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart suggested the Fed could consider such a move. In over-the-counter trading, overnight ind... More »
(James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own) By James Saft (Reuters) – Future risk-adjusted returns look poor from here, but if the Federal Reserve deploys its safety net they will be worse still. Monday’s savage markets selloff inev... More »
BlackRock Inc’s (BLK.N) chief investment officer of fundamental fixed income, Rick Rieder, believes the window for the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates is closing, he said in an interview on Monday. While Rieder hopes the Fed will still begin raisi... More »
China’s massive foreign currency reserves are dwindling at a more than half-trillion-dollar annual pace, a trend which may tighten global credit conditions. China’s central bank said its reserves fell by $43 billion in July to $3.65 trillion, in the first ever... More »
LONDON/SYDNEY Economic headwinds facing Chinese manufacturers intensified last month, with conditions deteriorating to their weakest level in two years, while euro zone factories largely shrugged off Greece’s brush with bankruptcy. July was a fraught month for... More »
LONDON/NEW YORK The global economy started the second half of the year on shaky ground with China’s factory sector activity contracting in July at the fastest pace in 15 months and euro zone manufacturing weaker than expected, although U.S. activity picked up.... More »
WASHINGTON The fuse may be lit for a Greek exit from the euro zone but the fallout in the United States is expected to be modest and not enough to throw the Federal Reserve’s likely September rate hike off course, said former Fed officials and outside analysts... More »
