Furthermore, despite the Fed’s attempt at normalizing rates last year, the economy appears too weak to endure more than one token rate hike. Incremental monetary policy measures appear to not be working – or at least growing increasingly ineffectual and “irrelevant.” Maybe Quantitative Easing (QE) only works if you are… Read More »
Paul Sheard, PhD -
Negative interest rate policy, as an aspect of monetary easing by central banks, is an odd thing. How can an interest rate be negative? Doesn’t that mean the lender gets back less than it lends, seemingly violating the economic truism that there is a (positive) time value of money? Indeed,… Read More »
It is still unclear how big the growth impact of Brexit will be. In the meantime, the policy stance will remain dovish. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s main message during the press conference following the bank’s July decision to remain on hold was that the ECB remains very much… Read More »
It is just over a month since the Brexit vote and market sentiment has lurched from doom and gloom to an uneasy optimism. The longer-term impact on the UK economy will depend on policies as yet unknown and negotiations over the terms of our divorce from our European partners, many… Read More »
The European Banking Authority’s (EBA) results of its EU-wide stress test on 51 banks indicate that most of them have sufficient capital to withstand an adverse stress. While there was no formal pass or fail threshold for the test, the results reflect the progress that many European banks have made… Read More »
Since January, Moody’s has stripped 33 US corporations of their investment grade status — the highest yearly number since the 2008 financial crisis. The recent downgrades have been largely concentrated in the energy and metals/mining sectors, as rating agencies moved to incorporate lower commodity price assumptions into their models. The… Read More »
State Street Global Advisors SPDR -
As generally expected, last week’s European Central Bank (ECB) meeting unfolded without any surprises; nothing new under the sun, so let’s enjoy it while the summer is here and continue to consider Euro corporate bonds. Such a cool, calm attitude suits the need to analyse the consequences of Brexit on… Read More »
Political uncertainty created by the UK’s vote to leave the EU will dampen already weak global economic activity and force policymakers to be more supportive, not only through monetary but especially fiscal means. Downgrading growth forecastsHow was the world before the shock of the UK’s EU referendum?For the second year… Read More »
We are in a summer lull and the Draghi fireworks will have to wait until autumn. By signalling their intention for rates to remain lower for longer as well as willingness to act when necessary, the ECB has bought some time to observe more data points and changes in economic… Read More »
In light of today’s interest rate decision from the European Central Bank (ECB) Tim Graf, head of macro strategy – Europe at State Street Global Markets, and David Furey, Portfolio Strategist, Fixed Income, Cash & Currency at State Street Global Advisors, offers their views. Tim Graf: “As we expected, the… Read More »
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