Fed loses patience and heads for first rate hike in nine years March 18, 2015 THE FEDERAL Reserve yesterday edged towards a much-anticipated first rate hike since 2006 by remov ing “patient” from its language. However, markets bet on a September, rather than a June, hike after it downgraded the expected pace of growth and inflation. Stock markets rallied after the Fed statement, while the US 10-year Treasury yield dipped [...]
Wall St rallies on Fed move – New York Report March 18, 2015 US STOCKS jumped yesterday after the Federal Reserve suggested a less aggressive timeline for raising interest rates even as it opened the door for the first hike in almost a decade. The Fed dropped its pledge to be “patient” in deciding when to begin raising rates, but it cut its interest rate projections over the [...]
Oil prices jump while dollar gets hammered after Fed statement March 18, 2015 Oil prices jumped as much as six per cent higher while the dollar experienced its biggest single-day decline in six years after the Federal Reserve's policy statement on interest rates. The benchmark Brent Crude closed at $55.91 a barrel, up $2.40 or 4.5 per cent when it had earlier fallen as low as $42.03 after [...]
Federal Reserve policy statement: Rate rise could come as soon as June as FOMC drops “patient” March 18, 2015 The Federal Reserve could raise historically low interest rates as soon as June after the central bank revealed it was moving away from a pledge to be “patient”. “An increase in the target range for the federal funds rate remains unlikely at the April,” said the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting statement, but leaving the [...]
FTSE 100 market report: Budget goodies lift oil majors March 18, 2015 Britain's blue-chip index was 0.1 per cent higher this lunchtime as investors digested the chancellor's budget. Chancellor George Osborne unveiled £1.3bn additional support for the struggling north sea oil and gas industry. He said the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts this will boost production by around 15 per cent. Crumbling oil prices have made a [...]
Dow and S&P fall ahead of Fed statement – New York Report March 17, 2015 THE DOW and S&P 500 fell yesterday as commodity-related shares declined and nervousness increased ahead of a Federal Reserve statement, while the Nasdaq ended higher. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 128.34 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 17,849.08, the S&P 500 lost 6.99 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 2,074.2 and the Nasdaq Composite [...]
Budget 2015: It’s George Osborne’s narrative that counts, not the details March 17, 2015 All eyes will be on George Osborne’s Budget today. An immense amount of media attention and serious commentary will be devoted to it. But do Budgets really matter? How much difference would it make if successive chancellors simply did nothing, apart from indexing various allowances and benefits in line with inflation? From time immemorial, British [...]
Why Engawa is an unusually well thought-out restaurant March 17, 2015 In Japan, the fax machine is still king of the office. While the western hemisphere abandoned it at the first whiff of email, the Japanese persevered, appreciating the personal touch that comes from a hand-written note, even if that note has been broken down into a series of blips and hisses and reassembled somewhere far [...]
Wall St rallies as Fed rate hike jitters ease – New York Report March 16, 2015 US STOCKS rallied yesterday as the greenback eased back from its recent peak and worries eased about the timing of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 228.11 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 17,977.42, the S&P 500 gained 27.79 points, or 1.35 per cent, to 2,081.19 and the Nasdaq [...]
Dollar surge: Just how much stronger will the currency get? March 16, 2015 The US Fed meeting this week will have big implications Yesterday saw some respite for those worrying about a surging dollar, as the euro rose just under 1 per cent to the $1.05 mark. But this did little to change the wider picture. Partly driven by divergent monetary policy paths in the US and the [...]