PBoC purchases 19 tons of gold in July
Aug 17, 2015 12:15 pm UTC| Commentary Central Banks
The Chinese central bank announced on Friday that it purchased 19 tons of gold in July. It would appear that the PBoC has gone over to reporting its (real) gold purchases monthly, rather than only every six years as it did...
ECB monetary policy is weakening the Euro
Aug 17, 2015 07:11 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks
If Greek membership in the euro area is indeed to be irreversible, the Eurozone will need to implement for far-reaching reforms, or be willing to enter into further bail-out negotiations. With the Greek crisis over, the...
Westpac Sees RBA on hold despite dovish market pricing
Aug 17, 2015 04:10 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks
Westpac chief economist Bill Evans sees the Reserve Bank of Australia keeping interest rates on hold well into next year, even as the market prices in a high chance of a cut by November. Westpac chief economist Bill Evans...

Fed's September rate hike still on the cards
Aug 16, 2015 23:11 pm UTC| Commentary Central Banks
The impact of China and of the weaker oil price complicates monetary policy decisions in both the UK and the US. After its August meeting the Bank of England intimated that a hike in policy rates is now unlikely this year,...

Aug 16, 2015 20:29 pm UTC| Commentary Central Banks
The RBA board minutes (Tuesday) is not expected to have much market impact given the RBA outlined its updated outlook in the Statement on Monetary Policy. The RBA minutes have also been overtaken by events in that they...

ECB's July minutes reveal cautious optimism
Aug 13, 2015 16:35 pm UTC| Commentary Central Banks
The account of the monetary policy meeting of 15-16 July suggests that the members viewed the ECBs policy measures to be on track, having contributed to improving confidence and growth, to a reduction in economic slack and...

Mexico monetary policy minutes: The hawks are stretching their wings
Aug 13, 2015 16:05 pm UTC| Commentary Central Banks
Banxico published the minutes of the monetary policy meeting of July 30. At that time, the board decided to keep the reference rate unchanged, but the minutes reveal that one member (out of four) had a preference to hike....