Just as the outlook for the global economy had been brightening in recent months, a new threat has suddenly emerged in the form of the viral outbreak in China. That was the cautionary message that Chairman Jerome Powell delivered Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held interest rates low after its latest policy meeting. Speaking at […]
Institutional investors have been going back and forth about whether monetary policy will provide the tailwinds to markets it did last year or whether central banks are running out of steam. Monetary policy decisions by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and other developed market players did plenty to bolster markets in early 2019, […]
The days of monetary policy as the most effective tool for stimulating the economy are over, as central banks around the world are increasingly limited in the measures they can implement, according to AllianceBernstein’s chief global economist. “The ability for central banks to do more is constrained, particularly in . . . Europe and Japan,” […]
Sweden’s central bank has ended a five-year experiment of keeping its benchmark interest rate below zero, a policy that other countries have also adopted to try to improve economic growth. The country’s central bank, called the Riksbank, said Thursday it had decided to raise its benchmark interest rate to zero from -0.25 per cent, where […]
The Federal Reserve is expected to send a clear message when its latest policy meeting ends Wednesday: Interest rates will likely stay ultra-low for the foreseeable future. Behind that message is a view that has gained support at the Fed as the U.S. economic expansion has entered a record 11th year: That contrary to long-standing […]
Paul Volcker, who as Federal Reserve chairman in the early 1980s elevated interest rates to historic highs and triggered a recession as the price of quashing double-digit inflation, has died, according to his office. He was 92. Volcker took charge of the Fed in August 1979, when the U.S. economy was in the grip of […]
The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate on hold Wednesday, leaving the country as an exception compared to other advanced economies that have begun to respond to a weakening global economy. In its explanation, the central bank argued that inflation is on target and the domestic economy has held up well in many […]
The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate Wednesday for the third time this year to try to sustain the economic expansion in the face of global threats. But it indicated that it won’t cut again in the coming months unless the economic outlook worsens. The Fed’s move reduces the short-term rate it controls, which […]
Mario Draghi leaves as head of the European Central Bank credited with having rescued the eurozone from disaster with a well-timed phrase and bold action to back up his words. He expanded the bank’s arsenal of crisis-fighting tools with new and unconventional policies, measures that he and others say helped end a financial crisis in […]
The European Central Bank on Thursday delivered a new blast of monetary stimulus to help the economy in the face of uncertainties like the U.S.-China trade conflict and Brexit. The central bank for the 19 countries that use the euro cut the rate on deposits it takes from banks to minus 0.5 per cent from […]