monetary policy

As high income economies improve and the financial sectors stabilize, central bankers understandably and rightly, want to move away from the unorthodox policies that were necessary to avoid an even larger collapse and more suffering.

There have been two central bank actions in Asia to note. In Europe, two countries reported lower than expected inflation.

The supply of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) continues to fall behind the potential demand - even with the Fed's taper in place. New issuance has steadily declined over the past year, with the Fed becoming an increasingly larger…

- The big event today is the BOE's Quarterly Inflation Report and the updated economic assessment and forward guidance; sterling is outperforming - Carney indicated that the new forward guidance would look at a broader range of economic…

I am concerned about what is happening in the emerging markets but not alarmed. Fed tapering was a proximate trigger but not a cause. All indications are that the crisis is hitting only the most exposed and vulnerable markets and that this…

there is much discussion of formally ending attempts to sterilize the SMP sovereign bond purchases conducted under ECB President Trichet. While refraining from sterilizing the SMP purchases would boost excess liquidity, we suspect it would…

The Federal Reserve’s ‘taper talk’ in spring 2013 has been blamed for outflows of capital from emerging markets. This column argues that global growth prospects and uncertainty are more important drivers of emerging-market capital flows…

Today Credit Suisse confirmed our earlier assessment that the ECB will be shifting toward a looser monetary stance in the near future via "suspension of the SMP sterilization".

While the emerging markets are getting a bit of a reprieve today, it bears noting that the move to so-called safe haven assets and currencies has begun. This suggests to me that George Magnus’ warning about this emerging markets crisis must…

The issue should be well known for US economy watchers. The unemployment rate has declined noticeably but if we factor in the declining labour force participation rate the picture looks largely unchanged. Should the Fed, then, shift focus…