Good chance the US deficit will shrink again temporarily

Mar 19, 2015 15:31 pm UTC| Commentary

The increase in the current account deficit to $113.5bn (2.6% of GDP) in Q4, from $98.9bn (2.2% of GDP) in the third, was principally due to a decline in direct investment income receipts from abroad.As the full impact of...

Strong U.S. dollar likely to keep current account deficit on a deepening path

Mar 19, 2015 15:11 pm UTC| Commentary

US current account deficit widened to $113.5 bln in Q4 from $98.9 bln in the prior quarter (revised slightly from $100.3 bln). Thats the largest deficit in 2½ years.As a share of GDP, the shortfall weighs in at...

U.S. labour market continues to perform well

Mar 19, 2015 15:05 pm UTC| Commentary

U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 1k in the March 14th week to 291k, a shade better than expected, while the prior week was revised up slightly (by 1k to 290k).Continuing claims fell to 2.42 mln in the March 7th week...

EUR/NOK to fall in medium-term

Mar 19, 2015 12:14 pm UTC| Commentary

Norges Bank surprised markets significantly by not cutting rates today. Norges Bank did lower the rate path indicating a single rate cut (in June).Markets are pricing in two full 25bp rate cuts: one in June 2015 and...

SNB to maintain a wait-and-see attitude in the future

Mar 19, 2015 12:11 pm UTC| Commentary

At its regular quarterly monetary policy meeting in March, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) kept the target range for the three-month Libor unchanged, at between -1.25% and -0.25%, as expected.The interest rate on sight...

Clear signals for Norges Bank rate cut

Mar 19, 2015 12:08 pm UTC| Commentary

In a surprise move similar to December, but in the opposite direction, the Norges Bank decided to keep its policy unchanged at 1.25%, despite a somewhat weaker outlook than in December (consensus and market pricing:...

Norges Bank to cut rates by 25 bps

Mar 19, 2015 07:03 am UTC| Commentary

Norges Bank scheduled its monetary policy meeting at 10.00 CET.A 25 bp rate cut is already priced into the market and widely expected among analysts, therefore the focus will be on the rate forecast.Nordea Research...