Will the Fed add a hawkish flavor to a smaller hike?
A bone of contention
At their last meeting for 2022, Fed officials raised interest rates by 50bps after four consecutive 75bps hikes. However, despite the smaller increment, they sang a hawkish song, with the gist of the lyrics being that interest rates may rise above 5%, while Fed Chair Powell’s solo part at the press conference intended to push back against pivot expectations.
Since then, even if some policymakers admitted that shifting to a lower gear at the upcoming gathering may be appropriate, most of them have been adamantly sticking to their guns that interest rates will probably rise to slightly above 5%, in line with the December “dot plot”, and that they will stay there for a prolonged period thereafter. However, this has been a bone of contention as the market insists that interest rates are likely to rise to the 4.75-5.00% range, and that 50bps worth of rate cuts may be warranted by the end of the year.
#FED #Hike #USD #hawkish
Why China’s central bank has cut its required reserve ratio
China cut its RRR today by 25 basis points. We think this is partly to help the economy and provide a cushion against gl...
Minutes of ECB's February meeting show determination to hike rates beyond March
The just-released minutes of the European Central Bank's February meeting reflect a very hawkish debate and a clear inte...
German inflation stable in February
February inflation data shows very few to no signs of any disinflationary process outside of energy and commodity prices...
Eurozone sentiment stable in February
The economic sentiment indicator showed a slight decline from 99.8 in January to 99.7 in February. This broadly stable r...
ECB suffers financially under its own rate hikes
By using former risk provisions, the European Central Bank avoided presenting a loss in its 2022 financial accounts
Eurozone PMI shows strong increase in February
The composite PMI increased from 50.3 to 52.3, hinting at accelerating growth over the course of the first quarter. Whil...
US retail sales surge on stark weather contrast
US retail sales jumped 3% month-on-month in January as warm weather encouraged people to go out and spend after harsh co...
Surprise UK services inflation dip bolsters case for rate hike pause
Services inflation is the bit of the CPI basket that the Bank of England cares most about right now, and January data sa...
UK wage growth points to another rate hike in March
There's little sign that UK wage growth has reached a peak, and the jobs market looks reasonably healthy. A 25bp rate hi...
Russia to cut oil output in response to western nations’ price cap
Reduction of 500,000 barrels a day targets ‘countries of the collective west’, says deputy PM
Please...
China’s loan growth beats consensus but results are unbalanced
China's loan growth is usually strong in the first quarter of the year. But this time, we saw a historic jump, pointing ...
UK economy avoids technical recession - for now
A poor December GDP figure makes a first-quarter contraction in output look fairly inevitable. But these figures are und...
Bank of Japan to welcome Kazuo Ueda as its new governor
The new governor will likely lead the Bank of Japan to a gradual change in its policy stance
Ueda is expe...