interest rates

Brazil hiked bank reserve requirements on time deposits to 20% from 15% and on cash deposits to 12% from 8%. Measures will take effect December 13 and an estimated BRL61 bln will be removed from the system. Central bank chief Meirelles…

There ain't nothing as good as a good short covering/melt-up rally day. The market has been in a flux the past weeks, but today's move proves, I think, that the upside surprise is much stronger than the downside and that the equity still…

Moody’s put Indonesia’s rating on review for possible upgrade. This is a stronger statement than the June move to positive outlook on the Ba2 rating (equivalent to BB), and we think an upgrade will be seen soon. Indeed, the agencies are…

While this probably isn’t much proof of Keynes liquidity preference, at least in the extreme sense, it does help explain why M1 has grown significantly faster than broader measures of money supply, as cash simply shifts from M2 to M1.

We have long felt that the market was underestimating tightening potential in 2011, but it appears to be coming around to our view. Weekly central bank survey shows market is now looking for an end-2011 policy rate of 12.25%, up from 12.0%…

Part 1.  Will Europe face defaults? Its official – Spain and Portugal will need to be bailed out soon.  How do I know? In one of my favorite TV shows, Yes Minister, the all-knowing civil servant Sir Humphrey explains to cabinet…

The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee met in secret by videoconference on October 15th to hash out policy issues ahead of the official November 2-3. The most extraordinary development at that meeting was discussion around whether the…

Dan Alpert, managing partner at Westwood Capital, thinks that banks are under-reserving and that this will come back to haunt them when house prices fall in "the final leg down" of the housing crisis.  That is the right view…

By Vedran Vuk With consumer prices in China up 4.4% this October over last year, the country has taken another move to avert inflation: price controls. There’s just one problem. Thirty years ago this would have been a viable policy…

by Win Thin Brazil press is reporting that President-elect Rousseff won’t ask central bank chief Meirelles to stay on after she takes office January 1, and repeats earlier speculation of changes to the economic team.  We have been…