August 21, 2023
United States:
Fed Can’t Celebrate Yet as Investors Expect Rates, Inflation to Remain Elevated
If they’d been offered today’s economy a year ago – with inflation downgraded from emergency to mere headache, still-low unemployment, and growth that’s slowed without stalling – the world’s top central bankers would’ve taken it like a shot.
That doesn’t mean anyone at Jackson Hole, where Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell and his peers meet this week, is likely to declare mission accomplished.
Europe:
Russia’s Flagship Oil Above $60 Does Little to Halt G-7 Services
The price of Russia’s flagship oil may have jumped above a Group of Seven imposed cap but that has done little to impede the provision of western services for the trade.
The number of ships calling at the nation’s ports that are either western owned or insured has fallen slightly since early July — before Urals rose above $60 — but they still represent a vital part of Moscow’s petroleum supply chain.
Asia:
China’s Surprise Move on Loan Rates Shows Banks Under Pressure
Chinese banks kept a key interest rate that guides mortgages on hold and made a smaller-than-expected cut to another rate, surprise moves that reflect Beijing’s difficult choice between boosting confidence and safeguarding the banking system’s stability.
The five-year loan prime rate was left at 4.2% on Monday, according to data from the People’s Bank of China. Most economists had predicted the rate to be cut by 15 basis points following a similar reduction last week to an key central bank policy loan rate. That was seen as precursor for a cut to the 5-year LPR.
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