Financial Times (March 10)
“Policymakers at the Bank of Japan are tackling a series of thorny policy debates as they confront the practicalities of raising interest rates for the first time since the summer of 2006.” Despite signaling the “unprecedented era of cheap money” could end with a rate increase as early as March, the BoJ “still faces a number of challenging decisions about how to leave negative rates behind without causing turmoil for global markets and Japanese lenders.”
Tags: 2006, BOJ, Cheap money, Confront, Global markets, Japan, Lenders, March, Negative rates, Policy debates, Policymakers, Practicalities, Thorny, Turmoil, Unprecedented era
Barron’s (September 12)
“Be careful what you wish for when calling for zero or negative interest rates, Mr. President.” There’s a downside and the results are not inspiring. “The record of negative rates in the euro zone, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and Japan has been mixed…. While bond yields have fallen below zero, banks been reluctant to impose negative rates on depositors, resulting in a squeeze on their profits.”
Tags: Banks, Bond yields, Denmark, Depositors, Downside, EU, Interest rates, Japan, Negative rates, Sweden, Switzerland, Trump, U.S.
Financial Times (April 12)
“There are clear practical limits to cutting rates indefinitely; and in the eurozone at least, the policy may be close to its political limits. The question now is what should take its place…. Opponents of negative rates need to spell out the alternatives.”
Tags: Alternatives, eurozone, Limits, Negative rates, Opponents, Rates
Investment Week (March 30)
“The past two weeks have seen a major transition in central bank philosophy, and possibly a renewed sense of coordination.” Central bankers seem to be signaling that they will not push further with negative rates and will instead embrace other methods, some non-conventional. “So far, markets have been euphoric at this turn away from the abyss and back towards some kind of ‘normality.’”
Tags: Central bank, Coordination, Markets, Methods, Negative rates, Non-conventional, Normality, Philosophy, Signaling, Transition
Bloomberg (March 25)
There are lots of questions for the Bank of Japan about its negative rate strategy, which “has caused bond yields to fall below zero, money market funds to stop accepting money, and lawmakers to summon Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda to parliament a record number of times to explain it.”
Tags: BOJ, Bond yields, Kuroda, Lawmakers, MMF, Negative rates, Parliament, Strategy
Institutional Investor (March 10)
“As had been widely anticipated, the European Central Bank today announced a cut for all three key benchmark rates and an expansion of the quantitative-easing program.” What remains to be seen is “what further monetary policy course the bank may take if negative rates fail to jump start spending and growth within the common currency zone.”
Tags: Anticipated, Benchmark rates, ECB, Growth, Monetary policy, Negative rates, Quantitative easing
