Daily Archives: November 10, 2010

People’s Bank raises reserve requirements 50bp

November 10, 2010 9:51 pm by Emma Saunders

More on that China rumour (which is no longer a rumour). The People’s Bank does plan to raise the deposit reserve requirement by 50bp, broadening and making permanent a temporary measure introduced almost exactly a month ago. The move, which takes effect on November 16, is expected to reduce liquidity by $45bn.

Back then, the measure affected six large commercial banks for two months. Four of those six banks will now see their deposit reserve requirement ratio (ratio) rise to 18 per cent. Other large deposit-taking institutions will see their ratio rise to 17.5 per cent, while small- and medium- sized banks will have a ratio of 15.5 per cent. Read more

Tags: Asia, banking, china, inflation, liquidity, liquidity, pboc, People's Bank of China, reserve ratio
Posted in People's Bank of China | Permalink

QE2 whingers get the FEER

November 10, 2010 4:20 pm by Robin Harding

The renminbi is 17 per cent undervalued against the dollar while the yen is 8 per cent overvalued…

William Cline and John Williamson at the Peterson Institute for International Economics have done a service to the currency wars debate by releasing an update to their estimates of fundamental equilibrium exchange rates (FEERs) for various countries against the dollar in a very interesting policy brief. Read more

Tags: currency, dollar, exchange rates, QE2, trade imbalances
Posted in Federal Reserve, G20 | Permalink

Irish yields keep rising, pass 8.5%

November 10, 2010 4:06 pm by Emma Saunders

The key level of 8 per cent has been rapidly passed today by rising Irish ten-year bond yields. London clearing house LCH.Clearnet has now moved to protect itself from any possible restructure, by making it more expensive to trade Irish debt.

LCH.Clearnet, the world’s second largest fixed income clearing house, said an additional 15 per cent margin requirement would be charged on investors’ net exposure to Irish bonds because of the increasing risk of a sovereign default. It’s another blow, following news that some SWFs were divesting Irish and Portuguese debt. The ECB is apparently buying Irish debt yet again.

Tension rose today following a Portuguese debt auction. Lisbon did sell €686m 10-year bonds and €556m 6-year bonds, less than the guideline range, which was €750-1250m in both cases. (Selling less than the guideline amount has been a feature of Portuguese debt auctions since July.)

Yields, however, were punitive. Lisbon will pay 6.81 per cent Read more

Tags: bonds, cost of debt, Europe, eurozone, greece, Ireland, PIGS, PIIGS, portugal, yields
Posted in European Central Bank | Permalink

Economics news headlines

November 10, 2010 1:54 pm by Emma Saunders

Tags: Global
Posted in Uncategorized | Permalink

Inflation set to rise, says Bank of England

November 10, 2010 12:27 pm by Emma Saunders

Instead of falling gradually back to target, inflation in the UK is now expected to rise to about 3.5 per cent by the end of the year, staying above 3 per cent till mid-2011 before falling to about 2 per cent in 2012. The central projection – the dark red centre of the fan chart – now has an upward hump, as you can see to the right.

Rising import prices, rising VAT and companies rebuilding their margins were cited as reasons for the change in the Bank of England’s quarterly inflation report. Risks to the projection are on the upside. Read more

Tags: growth, inflation, interest rates, UK
Posted in Bank of England | Permalink

Central bank rumour round-up

November 10, 2010 10:05 am by Emma Saunders

Three rumours doing the rounds this morning. First, that China might be about to raise reserve requirements again. The People’s Bank of China will raise reserve requirements for “several” banks, including key lenders, by 50bp on Monday, Dow Jones newswires reports via AFP. Chinese prices rose significantly between August and September, with year-on-year consumer price inflation standing at 3.6 per cent in September. China has recently employed other tightening measures, such as raising a key interest rate by 25bp last week.

Second rumour: that the Bank of Japan’s contributions to the Treasury will be waived or reduced if the central bank incurs losses in its asset purchase programme. Nikkei English News reports, via Bloomberg, that finance minister Yoshihiko Noda may soon make an official announcement. Read more