By Francesco Canepa and Balazs Koranyi FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank is set to keep interest rates at record highs on Thursday and take baby steps towards cutting them in the coming months as inflation continues to fall despite stubbornly high underlying price pressures. Having reacted too slowly to a sudden surge in …
ECB to hold rates and take baby steps towards first cut Read More »
By Maria Martinez (Reuters) – German industrial orders fell much more than expected in January due to base effects, the federal statistics office said on Thursday. Orders fell by 11.3% on the previous month on a seasonally and calendar adjusted basis. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a fall of 6.0%. The statistics …
German industrial orders fall more than expected in January Read More »
By Jamie McGeever ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) -Murmurs are growing that the Federal Reserve might resist cutting interest rates at all this year as corporate and household balance sheets look to have taken only a glancing hit from rate hikes to date. While nominal debt levels are high and 500 basis points of cumulative hikes may …
Sturdy US private finances bolster ‘no landing’ view: McGeever Read More »
By Leigh Thomas PARIS (Reuters) – France’s mid-February emergency budget cuts to keep its deficit-reduction plans on track are unlikely to be the last, leaving the government struggling to strike a balance between financial imperatives and political realities. The timing for any more cuts could hardly be worse, with annual European Union budget-vetting, credit rating …
Analysis-French budget squeeze has only just begun Read More »
By Promit Mukherjee and Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) – Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem, speaking a month before the federal budget is delivered, on Wednesday warned against policies that might spur demand amid a housing crunch, saying it can only be resolved by increasing supply. In an interview after keeping its key overnight rate …
Bank of Canada’s Macklem, ahead of budget, warns against spurring housing demand Read More »
By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job openings fell marginally in January, while the number of workers quitting their jobs dropped to a three-year low, indicating that labor market conditions were gradually easing. The decline in resignations, which pushed the quits rate to the lowest level in 3-1/2 years, over time bodes well for …
US labor market steadily easing as job openings, resignations decline Read More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. wholesale inventories fell more than initially thought in January, which could negatively impact economic growth estimates for the first quarter. The Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Wednesday that wholesale inventories dropped 0.3% instead of dipping 0.1% as estimated last month. Stocks at wholesalers increased 0.4% in December. Economists polled by …
US wholesale inventories revised down in January Read More »
By Maria Martinez (Reuters) -German exports rose more than expected at the start of the year thanks to rising demand from European Union countries and China, data from the federal statistics office showed on Wednesday. Exports rose by 6.3% in January compared with the previous month. The result compared with a forecast of a 1.5% …
German exports rise more than expected in January Read More »
By Mike Dolan LONDON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve may finally have interest rate markets back in the palm of its hand – but it’s surely casting a wary eye on effervescent stocks that seem oblivious to its caution. Fed chair Jerome Powell heads into two days of congressional testimonies this week confident the Fed’s …
Column-Channelling Greenspan, Powell’s exuberance moment? :Mike Dolan Read More »
By Dhara Ranasinghe and Alun John LONDON (Reuters) – Once hurt by crises and deflation, the euro is gaining popularity among central bank reserve managers thanks to a return to positive rates and geopolitics challenging king dollar’s appeal. Roughly one in five of the 75 central banks surveyed by the London-based OMFIF think-tank anticipate increasing …
Euro is back on the scene for global central banks Read More »
