Showing 1 - 10 of 24
Central banks caused own woes
News, Otmar Issing, Published on 02/08/2025
» US President Donald Trump's fierce attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have attracted global attention, rattled markets and, perhaps most importantly, sparked debate about the wisdom of central-bank independence -- a complex issue with constitutional and economic implications.
Dear DOGE, it's high time to tear down those dams!
News, Tom Zoellner, Published on 12/07/2025
» No big government infrastructure project made an imprint on the landscape and economy of the West more than the US Bureau of Reclamation's 20th century dam-building spree, which peppered 490 dams across the country, created an agricultural civilisation dependent on federal hydrology civil engineering, and brought about a welter of environmental difficulties after drying up dozens of once-healthy rivers.
Asian equities win in US recession
News, Manishi Raychaudhuri, Published on 06/05/2025
» If a recession materialises in the United States this year, the relative performance of US and Asian equities will likely be quite different from what investors have seen in past decades. Indeed, the latter may be the "risk-off" trade this time around.
US can't rely on inflation shamanism
News, James K Galbraith, Published on 23/09/2024
» Google "shamanism" and you will find that it is "a tradition of part-time religious specialists who establish and maintain personalistic relations with specific spirit beings through the use of controlled and culturally scripted altered states of consciousness." Every element of that definition applies to monetary policymaking today, as illustrated by the reaction to the US Federal Reserve's Sept 18 decision to cut the short-term interest rate by 50 basis points.
Markets may be sending a signal
News, Mike Dolan, Published on 12/08/2024
» What looks like a financial market in disarray may instead just be normalisation that will ultimately help insulate investment portfolios rather than sending them to the ground.
It'll take more than patriotism to save the ringgit
News, Daniel Moss, Published on 28/03/2024
» Malaysia wants to be great again, at least in foreign exchange. The nation's currency recently approached a level seen as near-catastrophic during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Authorities insist the ringgit is way too cheap and blame forces outside the country, chiefly high interest rates in the US. The remedies are modest, compared with the shock therapy meted out a couple of decades ago.
Global rate-cut debate unfolding
News, Daniel Moss, Published on 19/01/2024
» From villains to heroes. If there's one theme that has dominated markets in the opening days of the year, it's been breathless speculation about which central bank will cut interest rates first and by how much: It's no longer if but when. There's little doubt that borrowing costs will be lower in many key economies well before the end of 2024. Even the notoriously hawkish Bundesbank is on board.
Journalists tour 'once violent' Xinjiang
News, Mongkol Bangprapa, Published on 02/11/2023
» China allowed a number of international media organisations to observe what is hailed as success in containing terrorist-related violence in Xinjiang.
Singapore gives financial optimists some succour
News, Daniel Moss, Published on 17/10/2023
» To hear it from Singapore, the global economy is a glass half full. The central bank's latest assessment skips some of the pessimism that's been a feature of communications this year. If this hub for trade and capital is right, then the global expansion will live to fight another day.
Asia's very complicated pause in interest rates
News, Daniel Moss, Published on 07/03/2023
» Interest-rate pauses aren't exactly in trouble, but things are beginning to look awkward for officials eyeing a decent break. World growth isn't falling off a cliff and inflation has failed to ease up quite as expected in some big economies. The more fortitude the expansion shows, the greater the risk of a policy mistake. At least last year, the direction of policy was abundantly clear.