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Showing 141 - 150 of 1072 results for "US Fed"

Chief economist update: Powell Power

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 29 NOV 2018
We may have a Santa Claus rally this year after all! US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell spooked us all - in the Halloween month of October - when, in an interview with PBS, he declared that: "The really extremely accommodative low interest rates ...

Chief economist update: Americans who want work will find it

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 5 NOV 2018
Financial markets expect the US Federal Reserve's FOMC meeting this week (7-8 November) to be a ho-hum event. In fact, the CME FedWatch Tool puts the probability of the Fed keeping the fed funds rate at 2-2.25% at 92.8% - almost a sure "no change" ...

Chief economist update: Shopaholics drive US growth

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 29 OCT 2018
Spend, spend, spend appears to be this year's overriding mantra of the US consumer. The slow start in the first quarter of 2018 had been replaced by back-to-back quarters of exceptionally strong contributions to overall growth from American household ...

RBNZ on ice into 2020

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 28 SEP 2018
There were some moments so far in 2018 when it perked up against the US dollar but the path of least resistance has been a decline for the New Zealand dollar. The NZ dollar has dropped by 6.8% versus the greenback (to US$0.6628) this year to date and ...

Three down one to go, then another three in 2019

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 27 SEP 2018
And so it came to pass. As expected, the US Federal Reserve lifted the fed funds rate target range by 25 basis points to 2.0%-2.25% following its two-day FOMC meeting on the 25th and 26th of September. US equities rallied immediately after the Fed's ...

Chief economist update: Surplus here we come

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 26 SEP 2018
The US Federal Reserve is poised to announce another 25 basis point taking the fed funds rate to 2%-2.25% when it concludes its September FOMC meeting later today. That wouldn't be a surprise. Another 25 basis point hike in December also wouldn't ...

Chief economist update: Famous last words

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 28 AUG 2018
The S&P 500 index closed at 2896.74 points at the end of last night's trading activity on Wall Street. Yes, Virginia, it's a new record high! Yippee-kay-yay and hallelujah! This is good for stock markets around the world, including Australia. ...

Chief economist update: Submerging markets

BENJAMIN ONG  |  MONDAY, 20 AUG 2018
Emerging markets had been rallying even before 2017 turned into 2018, outperforming developed markets - 27.8% versus 16.3% - at the end of last year. Those were the days of synchronised growth upswing, given more oomph by Trump's declared corporate ...

Chief economist update: Don't mind the gap

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 17 AUG 2018
Hear ye, hear ye... the unemployment gap has closed! The loss of 3900 workers (versus expectations for a 15,000 addition) may have made for sobering reading on the Australian labour market but this was a small give from the 58,200 additional workers ...

Chief economist update: Do nothing RBA

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 7 AUG 2018
If all goes according to expectations, today's Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Board meeting will mark one-month and two years (25 months) that the country's cash rate had been stuck at a record low 1.50%, and the longest stretch of unchanged ...