Central Banks

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the eurozone came in below expectations in August, after the revised data showed that inflation rose by a smaller 0.1 percent against the flash estimate of a 0.2-percent increase.

The European Central Bank (ECB) responded to macroeconomic pressures and the eurozone economy’s weak outlook by cutting benchmark interest rates by 10 basis points. Concluding the monetary-policy meeting in Frankfurt last month, the governing council announced a reduction in interest rates on the deposit facility

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Japan edged lower to 2.3 percent in June from 2.4 percent a month earlier, ending slightly below market estimates of 2.4 percent. June’s unemployment rate was the lowest in the four-month period, with 60,000 unemployed personnel finding jobs, while the number of employed expanded by 70,000 to 67.01 million.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the US Federal Reserve System (the Fed) will be heading into its fifth monetary-policy meeting for the year on July 30, with markets keenly eyeing the outcome, in spite of the majority of market indicators already pricing in a rate cut.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), in its monetary-policy statement published on May 10, indicated that the Australian economy is witnessing subdued growth in household income and that the adjustment in the housing market is taking a toll on consumer spending.

Germany’s seasonally adjusted retail-sales figure surged 3.3 percent month-on-month in January to its highest level since October 2016, rebounding sharply from a downwardly revised -3.1 percent in December, according to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left benchmark interest rates, or the cash rate, unchanged at 1.5 percent following its monetary-policy meeting on February 5.

The US Federal Reserve (the Fed) voted unanimously to raise benchmark interest rates by 25 points at its concluding monetary-policy meeting in 2018 on December 18-19.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently published its forecast for global economic growth, also referred to as the “World Economic Outlook” (WEO), in which the international body downsized its global growth outlook for 2018-19.

The US Federal Reserve (the Fed) voted unanimously to raise benchmark interest rates by 25 basis points to a range between 2.0 and 2.5 percentin September, following its two-day monetary-policymeeting.