Latest news with #interest rates
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Economists Join Traders as Bets on Canada Interest-Rate Cut Fall
Economists are abandoning their calls for monetary-policy easing in Canada next week as traders price in only a small chance of an interest-rate cut and the nation's output beat all estimates. Canada's so-called loonie rose as much as 0.5% to trade at 1.3740 per US dollar on Friday after gross domestic product for the first three months of the year grew faster than at the end of 2024. Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada now expect no changes in rates next week, contrary to the cut they saw before.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Australian Retail Sales Unexpectedly Fall, More RBA Cuts Seen
Australian retail sales unexpectedly fell in April after three months of gains, led by a decline in clothing purchases and prompting traders to bring forward expectations for a third interest rate cut this year. Sales dropped 0.1% in April from a month earlier, compared with a forecast 0.3% increase, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Friday. The decline caps a week of dour economic data including private capital investment which fell in the first quarter against economist expectations for a gain, and construction work done which was flat, again confounding estimates for a rise.
ABC News
4 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
US dollar dive threatens Australian superannuation
Sabra Lane: When Australia's Reserve Bank cut official interest rates last week, it did so because it was partly worried about the risk of a severe downside scenario for global trade. Economists say that risk has just increased with a steep fall in the value of the US dollar that we might all feel the fallout. Business correspondent David Taylor explains. David Taylor : The US dollar, the world's reserve currency, is flirting with a three-year low and its steep decline has veteran economist Saul Eslake worried. Saul Eslake : The reason for the decline in the US dollar is that financial markets are becoming increasingly apprehensive about a number of aspects of the US economy as a result of things that the Trump regime is doing. David Taylor : That apprehension is also showing up in higher long-term US interest rates, including the 30-year government bond rate, now roughly 5%. Saul Eslake : I mean, apprehension is probably putting it at its mildest. In some quarters, there is, if not panic, then certainly alarm. David Taylor : The distress relates to the connection between elevated long-term bond interest rates and the rising cost of millions of American mortgages. Saul Eslake : And with the 30-year bond yield in the US now higher than at any time since before the global financial crisis, that means that mortgage rates are going up. David Taylor : This, he says, could seriously harm the world's biggest economy. Australian mortgage borrowers on fixed interest rate loans, Saul Eslake says, are also in the firing line. Saul Eslake : Fixed rates for mortgages and for business loans, the longer out you go, the more influenced they are by US government bond yields. David Taylor : The falling US dollar, analysts say, is also pushing the Australian dollar higher. While that's good news for Australian travellers, FN Arena's Danielle Ecuyer says it's a risk for anyone holding US investments, and that includes Australians with superannuation. Danielle Ecuyer : We know that a lot of Australian investors have been piling into US stocks. And this is just one of the aspects of, I think, probably where people go, well, that's great. US assets are going up. But the problem is the US dollar is going down. So in Australian currency times, you're not doing as well. David Taylor : Saul Eslake sees the financial dangers for the US economy rising. That's because, he says, the cost of US government debt is higher than America's economic growth rate, which he points out can make servicing government debt incredibly challenging. Saul Eslake : And at its most extreme example, that's what happened to Greece 13 years ago. David Taylor : Official inflation data will be released later today, which, if low enough, could open the door to some additional relief for Australian mortgage borrowers on variable interest rates.
Arab News
4 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Turkish central bank gross reserves rose $7.5bn last week, traders and data say
ANKARA: Turkiye's central bank bought more foreign currency last week, lifting its total reserves by a further $7.5 billion after sharp declines in March and April, bankers' calculations from data showed on Tuesday. Market turmoil in March over the detention and jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, triggered a policy pivot, including a hike in the bank's key interest rate last month. Bankers' calculations, based on preliminary data, also showed that the central bank's net reserves rose by $8 billion last week to $48 billion. The central bank bought some $13 billion in the last three weeks, data showed, marking a reversal after it had sold some $57 billion to help stabilize the lira and other financial markets in the face of the turmoil. Separately, overnight interest rates, which had dropped briefly to the main policy rate level of 46 percent on Friday, returned this week to 49 percent, at the upper band of the rate corridor that was also earlier raised to head off market turmoil. Traders are closely monitoring whether overnight rates will hover close to the upper band of the rate corridor — 49 percent — in the coming days, for further signals on the policy path ahead. Bankers have said that lowering overnight market rates would be a necessary step before the central bank resumes its easing cycle, which began in December but was reversed in April in the wake of the mayor's arrest and jailing. The bank's next two scheduled policy meetings will be on June 19 and July 24.
Zawya
4 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Turkish central bank gross reserves rose $7.5bln last week, traders and data say
ANKARA - Turkey's central bank bought more foreign currency last week, lifting its total reserves by a further $7.5 billion after sharp declines in March and April, bankers' calculations from data showed on Tuesday. Market turmoil in March over the detention and jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, triggered a policy pivot, including a hike in the bank's key interest rate last month. Bankers' calculations, based on preliminary data, also showed that the central bank's net reserves rose by $8 billion last week to $48 billion. The central bank bought some $13 billion in the last three weeks, data showed, marking a reversal after it had sold some $57 billion to help stabilize the lira and other financial markets in the face of the turmoil. Separately, overnight interest rates, which had dropped briefly to the main policy rate level of 46% on Friday, returned this week to 49%, at the upper band of the rate corridor that was also earlier raised to head off market turmoil. Traders are closely monitoring whether overnight rates will hover close to the upper band of the rate corridor - 49% - in the coming days, for further signals on the policy path ahead. Bankers have said that lowering overnight market rates would be a necessary step before the central bank resumes its easing cycle, which began in December but was reversed in April in the wake of the mayor's arrest and jailing. The bank's next two scheduled policy meetings will be on June 19 and July 24.
