January
ECB cuts rates for fifth time as eurozone economy flat lines
Investors maintained bets for further easing, pricing an additional 70 basis points of cuts during the rest of 2025, which would lower rates to near 2 per cent.
December 2024
ECB cuts rates for the third straight time
The European Central Bank indicated more cuts are to come as it sought to prop up the bloc’s struggling economy.
How markets can get used to Trump’s bullying shock therapy
Markets need to quickly understand that the next US president and his team see trade in political, rather than narrowly economic, terms.
October 2024
Tussle for control of New York’s famed Chrysler Building
Legal disputes and ruthless manoeuvres are commonplace in the cutthroat world of New York real estate. Now the fate of a famous skyscraper hangs in the balance.
ECB cuts rates again as euro zone economy stagnates
The European Central Bank offered its first back-to-back rate cut in 13 years - in a shift to protecting economic growth.
September 2024
Did central banks get the inflation crisis right?
Rate-cutting cycles in recent decades – such as in the early 2000s, or during the financial crisis of 2007 – have tended to be associated with steep economic downturns.
ECB cuts rates again as economy stumbles
The ECB is getting more confident that consumer-price growth is returning to target following its historic spike.
The Fed needs to avoid becoming passive-aggressive
Adjusting policy in a timely manner to sustain economic expansions is difficult. Given the lags in policy transmission, the time to reset the funds rate has arrived.
August 2024
Jackson Hole bankers pivot to cuts as soft landing comes into view
Global rate-setters have left the Wyoming symposium cautiously optimistic, but acutely aware of the risks of either cutting rates too soon or leaving it too late.
Jackson Hole gathering reveals fresh concern for central bankers
Officials from three of the world’s major central banks have signalled they are on course to lower interest rates emerging weakness in labour markets and growth become the chief threat for policymakers.
New Zealand cuts rates in a rapid change of tune
The RBNZ’s pivot to easing is a dramatic shift after it said in May it considered raising rates and wouldn’t cut them until the second half of 2025.
Eurozone rate cut questioned as German wages soar
Not all rate-setters are convinced that the ECB will manage to avoid what bank president Christine Lagarde has referred to as “tit-for-tat inflation”.
Central banks need true transparency not fake consensus
The Bank of England isn’t afraid to advertise its differences. That is better for creating trust than the obsession with a united front at the US Fed.
July 2024
Wave of shipping inflation could complicate rate cuts, economists warn
Economists are sounding the alarm on the impact of surging shipping costs on the global fight against inflation.
We don’t know when rates will be cut again, ECB says
European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde says the question of an interest rate cut in September is “wide open”, and dependent on data.
Bond market dials up US rate cut bets; RBA left behind
Goldman Sachs says there is now “solid rationale” for the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates this month. It’s a different picture in Australia, where markets are still pricing in a rate rise.
ASX to hit 8000 as markets bank on Federal Reserve to cut rates
It’s taken the local bourse just over three years to climb another 1000 points after breaching the 7000 level in April 2021, fuelled by pandemic-era stimulus.
Why central banks are in two minds on the private credit boom
The US Fed is not worried about the systemic risks of private credit, but the Bank of England and the ECB are not so sure.
June 2024
France’s election could trigger market shockwaves, BoE warns
The Bank of England’s alert comes before Sunday’s first round of voting. Polls now show the populist right potentially closing in on a parliamentary majority.
The Fed treats itself to the luxury of time when it comes to rates
The decision to sit pat highlights the very different approaches central bankers are taking as they try to rein in inflation while maintaining economic growth.