Bank of Japan keeps rates on hold

Bank Of Japan Holds Pat; Slightly Cuts Output View
TOKYO -- The Bank of Japan held pat on Monetary Policy as widely expected Tuesday and maintained its overall assessment of The Economy, saying it's showing signs of a moderate recovery. But it tweaked down its view on output, saying it's recently declined slightly. The BOJ's vote to keep Interest Rates unchanged in a range of zero to 0.1% was unanimous. The Central Bank said in a statement it will steadily purchase various assets and provide longer-term funds through its 35 Trillion yen ($418 bi...

Save the date
CHINA jumped ahead of Japan in 2010 to become the world’s second-biggest economy, but when will it grab the number-one slot? The Economist’s interactive chart allows you to make your own predictions. The relative paths of GDP in dollar terms in China and America depend not only on real growth rates but also on Inflation and the yuan’s Exchange Rate against The Dollar. Over the past decade real GDP growth averaged 10.5% a year in China and 1.7% in America; Inflation averaged 3.8...

Japan Central Bank Leaves Interest Rate Unchanged
Japan's Central Bank kept its key Interest Rate unchanged at effectively zero Tuesday as the country struggles to keep its Economic Recovery alive. In a widely expected decision, the Bank of Japan's nine-member policy board voted unanimously at a two-day meeting to keep the overnight call rate target at zero to 0.1 percent. The Central Bank maintained its assessment of the world's No. 3 economy. "Japan's economy still shows signs of a moderate recovery, but the recovery seems to be pausing," ...

Japan central bank leaves interest rate unchanged
TOKYO (AP) - Japan's Central Bank is keeping its key Interest Rate unchanged at near zero amid a sluggish Economic Recovery. The unanimous decision to keep the overnight call rate target at zero to 0.1 percent came Tuesday after a two-day meeting of the Bank of Japan's nine-member policy board. The Central Bank maintained its assessment of the country's economy, saying the moderate recovery appears to be pausing. Japan's economy has been battered by a strong yen and persistent Deflation. A ke...

FOMC statement: Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada, Bank of England, and Swiss National Bank
The Federal Open Market Committee has authorized an extension through August 1, 2011, of its temporary U.S. dollar Liquidity swap arrangements with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the Swiss National Bank. The swap arrangements, established in May 2010, had been authorized through January 2011. ...

Fed extends USD swaps with major central banks
By Sakari Suoninen Frankfurt | Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:58am EST Frankfurt (Reuters) - The world's major Central Banks said on Tuesday they would extend emergency supplies of U.S. dollar funding to money markets, in a sign that authorities remain concerned about financial instability as governments grapple with Debt problems. The European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, Bank of Canada, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank extended their U.S. dollar Liquidity providing operations with t...

Hungary's Central Bank Raises Interest Rates Again
LONDON -- Hungary's Central Bank on Monday increased the base rate by 25 basis points to 5.75%, effective from Tuesday. In contrast, most analysts expected no change to Interest Rates. In November, the Central Bank had raised rates by 25 basis points to 5.50%. The decision "will only add to rising tensions between the Central Bank and the government," said Neil Shearing, senior Emerging Market Economist at Capital Economics, in a note. "The bank justified last month's move on the grounds that th...

Fed's Bullard: Bond buying 'modestly successful'
NEW YORK | Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:48am EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's $600 billion bond buying program has been "at least modestly successful" so far, St Louis Fed President James Bullard told the CNBC TV business channel on Monday. Bullard said nominal Interest Rates alone should not be used to judge the program's success. He said Economic Growth would likely be stronger next year than was anticipated even a few months ago. "I do think GDP growth will be stronger in 2011 than peo...

Census numbers suggest parallels in population shifts and income equity
Until you look more deeply into the demographic trends, it's easy to make overarching and facile political assessments. Witness this comment from a reader examiner: Yeah the shift from the rustbelt to warmer climates has a lot to do with Economic Growth in the sunbelt but also a bunch of white libtards running away from their quasi-socialist effed up states that they have helped produce. Don't worry they still parrot the same old state drone mantras they were indoctrinated with long ago. They no...

LEAD: BOJ refrains from taking fresh monetary easing steps as expected+
expected+ (AP) - Tokyo, Dec. 21 (Kyodo)—(EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE INFO) The Bank of Japan on Tuesday refrained from taking fresh monetary easing steps as widely expected, with the yen's rise against the U.S. dollar recently taking a breather to the relief of the export-driven Japanese economy. At a two-day policy meeting that ended the same day, the BOJ decided to keep its key Interest Rate steady in the range of around zero to 0.1 percent, which is part of a comprehensive monetary easing ...

Devaluation vs Deflation
Paul Krugman has more on the madness of citing the Baltic economies as a model to be emulated for what to do when crisis hits: The Baltics have done much worse than Iceland. And the employment numbers are just part of it. Iceland, as even the IMF says, has been able to “preserve the Nordic social model”; there has been a lot of distress, but not much extreme hardship. Meanwhile, the impact on Baltic society has been devastating . Now it’s true that the Baltic countries have been able to

Japanese economy expected to grow 1.5% in FY 2011+
On a nominal basis, The Economy could expand 1.0 percent in the year starting April, the sources said, with the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan expected to approve the projections on Wednesday. The Japanese Economy, previously assessed by the government as "pausing," will likely start recording moderate growth in the new Fiscal Year, largely benefiting from Economic Recovery overseas especially in Asia, which would accelerate Japanese production and exports, they said. But the level of gro...

Britain's new clean energy support scheme
LONDON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Britain has tabled a set of policies to change to support low-carbon energy sources. They include long-term, feed-in-tariffs, minimum price levels for large low-carbon generation projects, funds for "reserve plants" to ensure a reliable power generation, incentives for Energy Efficiency, and greater support to price carbon. They would replace the current certificate-based "renewables obligation" system, which has helped Britain to the world's largest offshore wind port...

Boris Johnson under fire after signing sponsorship deal with 'legal loan shark'
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has come under fire for signing a sponsorship deal with a high interest loan company. Free travel on London transport this Christmas and New Year will be sponsored by Wonga.com - a loans company offering cash at an eye-watering Interest Rate of 2689 per cent. Wonga.com posters declaring "sometimes you need some extra cash" have been seen across London's transport network. The move has been condemned by Mr Johnson's political opponents, including rival mayor ca...

Top business story: Economy grows but hiring lags
NEW YORK (AP) — In 2010, The Economy rebounded fitfully from the Great Recession — starting strong, wobbling at midyear but showing enough vigor by year’s end to quell fears of a second recession. Yet Americans hardly felt relief under the weight of high Unemployment, which began the year at 9.7 percent and is now 9.8 percent. An Oil Spill devastated The Economy and environment along the Gulf Coast and hammered energy giant BP’s stock price and reputation. China muscled p...

Spain OKs 2011 austerity budget, saving PM his job
MADRID (AP) - Spain's Parliament passed an Austerity Budget for 2011 by a razor-thin margin on Tuesday, saving embattled Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero his job and giving him a victory in his bid to convince markets that the nation will take control of its finances and avoid a Greek style-bailout. The lower house of Congress passed the Budget in a 177-171 vote, approving a euro122 billion ($160.4 billion) 2011 spending plan that cuts spending 8 percent compared with 2010 and sets f...

Summary Box: Treasury flat in light trading
LIGHT TRADING: Treasurys traded in a tight range Tuesday. The 10-year note rose 34.3 cents for every $100 invested. That lowered the yield to 3.30 percent from 3.35 late Monday. MORE FED BUYING: The Fed bought $9.4 billion in Treasurys, including $1.61 billion in Inflation-indexed notes. The purchases are part of the Central Bank's $600 billion bond-buying program aimed at lowering long-term Interest Rates. FIGHTING THE FED: Yields have been rising steadily since early November, even after the...

As ETFs Pass $1 Trillion In AUM, What Next?
, total assets under management in the ETF space also passed $1 Trillion for the first time ever, primarily courtesy of SPY, which added $11.6 billion (even as it continues to be the most shorted NYSE security in the world with 294.1 million shares short on 700 million total shares), and the IWM which saw $976 million in new assets. Granted, these numbers are just a little suspect, since according to the monthly Invesco PowerShares report, total ETF assets were still "just" $934.4 billion, but w...

Question #10 for 2011: Monetary Policy
by CalculatedRisk on 12/21/2010 12:57:00 PM Over the weekend I posted some questions for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2011. I'll try to add some predictions, or at least some thoughts for each question - working backwards - before the end of year. Remember, I have no crystal ball and I'm sure many people will disagree. Also many of the questions are interrelated. The question on Monetary Policy depends on Inflation (question #9) and the Unemployment Rate (question #6). And the unemplo...

2ND LD: Japan's exports moderately recover in Nov.+
TOKYO, Dec. 22 (AP) - (Kyodo)—(EDS: ADDING INFO, COMMENTS) Japanese exports increased 9.1 percent in November from a year earlier to 5,441.1 billion yen ($64.9 billion), showing signs of moderate recovery after a recent slowdown, government data showed Wednesday. Overall exports rose for the 12th straight month while the rate of increase expanded for the first time in nine months following the 7.8 percent rise in October, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report. On a monthly bas...

US Fed extends dollar lifeline for central banks
The US Federal Reserve on Tuesday extended until August an emergency tool for other Central Banks to access US dollars, amid market jitters and high demand for the safe haven greenback. The deal, which had been due to expire in January, allows the Central Banks of Britain, Japan, Canada and Switzerland, as well as the European Central Bank, to exchange local currency for US dollars. The swap agreements were sealed in May, but as a Debt crisis and slow Economic Recovery continues to roil markets ...

New Poll: McCrory 51, Perdue 36
Although the next election is not until 2012, Republican Pat McCrory leads Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue by 15 percent, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute. According to the live caller poll of 600 Likely Voters, 51 percent of voters said they would vote for McCrory if the election for Governor were held today.  Thirty-six percent said they would vote for Perdue, and 12 percent said they are Undecided. This is a 6 percent increase in McCrory’s lead from a June...

Treasury Department launches small-business lending fund
The Treasury Department has launched a new program designed to provide loans to small businesses struggling to obtain credit.  The Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF), part of Legislation enacted in late September that provides Tax Breaks and incentives to businesses, creates a $30 billion account that community banks can draw upon to spur lending to smaller businesses.  The addition of the program to the small-business bill created a contentious debate, with opponents of the fund calling it ...

Obama praises FCC's vote on Net Neutrality, Verizon yearns for the old days of Clinton and Bush
The so-called Net Neutrality vote went along party lines to the delight of President Obama and the apparent dismay of Verizon, which yearned for the good old days. The Federal Communications Commission voted Tuesday to prevent land-line Internet Providers like Comcast and TimeWarner from blocking access to sites. However, it said that wireless companies like AT&T and Verizon could limit some applications and services. The three Democrats on the FCC outvoted the two Republicans on the contr...

Obama's Statement on Net Neutrality Vote
There are people on the left (who say Obama "caved") and the right (who says the new rules go too far), which I typically take as a good sign. The new rules don't apply to wireless providers, just the traditional cable and telecom companies. The new rules would prevent your cable company, for example, from blocking websites such as Hulu. Statement by the President on Today’s FCC Vote on Net Neutrality Today’s decision will help preserve the free and open nature of the Internet whil...