Poland: Looks like another rate hike in February
The Polish Statistical Office has published consumer price inflation and wage growth numbers for inflation. Inflation accelerated further in January to 4.3% y/y – above our expectation of 4.2% y/y and the consensus expectation of 4.1% y/y. Wage growth also surprised on the upside, coming out at 11.5% y/y – well above our expectation of 9.7% y/y and the consensus expectation of 9.2% y/y.
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Japan: Interest rates unchanged as
In a unanimous decision at today’s monetary meeting, the Bank of Japan (BOJ), as expected, kept its leading interest rate unchanged at 0.5%. In its monthly economic report, the BoJ overall kept its view on the economy unchanged. It still believes the economy is expanding moderately but will slow temporarily, partly because of a drop in housing investments. However, the BoJ has revised its view on the global economy and now believes “…overseas economies are likely to expand, although at a
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Ben S. Bernanke testimony before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate
• Bernanke indicated that downside risks to growth have increased and conditions in the labor market have softened • Bernanke’s baseline outlook involves a period of sluggish growth in the first half of 2008 • The speech is consistent with our current expectations of a 0-25 bp cut in the next FOMC meeting The Fed Chairman’s speech did not change drastically from his previous intervention in front of the House of Representatives budget committee last month. The market was expecting a more
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Turkey: Yet another rate cut no surprises
The Turkish central bank (TCMB) has announced that it has cut its key policy rate by another 25bp to 15.25% – in line with ours and the consensus expectation.
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