ECB ziet economie langzaam herstellen

ECB ziet economie langzaam herstellen

(Bron, De Telegraaf DFT) AMSTERDAM (AFN) - De neergang van de wereldeconomie lijkt over zijn dieptepunt heen. Nu steeds meer indicatoren wijzen op een mogelijke stabilisering van de economie, praat ook de Europese Centrale Bank (ECB) voorzichtig over een einde van de krimp.
“Na het extreem zwakke eerste kwartaal zal de economie in de rest van het jaar veel minder sterk verslechteren”, aldus ECB-president Jean-Claude Trichet donderdag na afloop van de maandelijkse rentevergadering van de ECB. “We verwachten positieve kwartaalcijfers vanaf de tweede helft van 2010.”

De positieve signalen over de wereldeconomie kwamen donderdag zowel uit de eurozone als de Verenigde Staten. In de eurolanden verkochten de detailhandelaren in april voor het eerst in vijf maanden weer wat meer dan in de voorgaande maand. In de VS was het aantal mensen dat een werkloosheidsuitkering aanvroeg vorige week lager dan een week eerder en nam de productiviteit per werknemer in het eerste kwartaal toe. Lees Artikel...
http://www.telegraaf.nl/dft/nieuws_dft/4083486/__ECB_ziet_economie_langzaam_herstellen__.html?p=25,1

BoE keeps UK interest rate held at historic low of 0.5%

BoE keeps UK interest rate held at historic low of 0.5%
(Source The Times)
The Bank of England paused for breath today in its battle to combat the economic slump, holding interest rates at 0.5 per cent and staying its hand over any other changes in its recession-fighting strategy of quantitative easing.
The Bank switched to a “wait and see” stance after a six-month long scramble to shore-up the economy with drastic interest rate cuts and, since last month, a radical move to jump-start growth by “printing money”.
The noon verdict (09 April)from the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee confirmed City predictions that official interest rates would be left on hold at their present 315-year low of just 0.5 per cent.
Mervyn King, the Bank’s Governor, had made clear last month that he saw little scope for further cuts. The record of the Monetary Policy Committee's last meeting showed it was anxious that further rate cuts could backfire, deterring banks from lending and hitting savers.

The Bank had also been widely expected to order no change for the moment in its drastic “quantitative easing” plan to pump extra, newly-created money through the economy by buying up a range of assets from the financial markets.
The controversial move to buy assets worth a total of £75 billion over three months began only last month, and is less than a third complete, with the Bank having so far purchased some £26 billion of UK government bonds or gilts, and about £400 million of corporate bonds — company IOUs. Read Article...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6065520.ece

ECB expected to cut rates to lowest level since the introduction of the Euro

ECB expected to cut rates to lowest level since the introduction of the Euro
(March 5, 2009)

Online and in real time: ECB press conference, from its premises in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
At 2.30 p.m. CET the ECB President and Vice-President explain the Governing Council's monetary policy decisions and answer journalists' questions.
Webcast of ECB press conference on 5 March 2009
http://www.thomson-webcast.net/de/dispatching/?ecb_090305_stream_video

The European Central Bank has cut its main interest rate by a half percentage point to 1.5 percent amid increasingly grim economic news.

The Bank of England earlier Thursday cut its rates by a half percentage point to 0.5 percent.

Bank of England (BoE) expected to move towards Quantitative Easing (QE)

UK: BoE cuts interest rates to record low of 1.5 percent

UK interest rates cut to record low of 1.5 percent

LONDON (AP) -- The Bank of England has cut official interest rates by half a percentage point to 1.5 percent, the lowest level in its 315-year history as it attempts to ward off a prolonged recession.Thursday's cut means British central bankers are moving closer to the limits of conventional monetary policy after trims totaling three percentage points since the beginning of October.Britain faces its bleakest year since the early 1990s recession. House prices have suffered their worst year on record, the huge services sector is shrinking at a record pace and several major retailers have collapsed as consumers curb spending.

Inflation is expected to fall from 4.1 percent currently to well below the government's 2 percent target, heading toward destabilizing negative inflation.

Bank of England cuts official interest rates to 2 pct, ECD cuts to 2.5 pct

ECB verlaagt rente tot 2,5 procent

De rente in de eurozone is spectaculair verlaagd. De Europese Centrale Bank (ECB) heeft het belangrijkste tarieft met 0,75 procent omlaag gebracht naar 2,5 procent.
De afgelopen maanden is de rente ook al fors naar beneden bijgesteld; zowel in oktober als in november ging er een half procent af.
Zelden worden zulke grote rentestappen gezet, meestal blijven verhogingen of verlagingen beperkt tot een kwart procent. De snelle en forse daling heeft te maken met de economische crisis. Door de rente te verlagen (geld goedkoper te maken) hoopt de ECB dat het opgedroogde kredietverkeer tussen financiële instellingen weer op gang komt.

Te ECB website had a time out, possibly due to heavy traffic. They should fix that! We do not all have limitless time.
Key ECB interest rates
The Governing Council of the ECB sets the key interest rates for the euro area

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Bank of England cuts official interest rates to 2 pct ahead of European Central Bank decision

LONDON (AP) -- The Bank of England has slashed official interest rates by 1 percentage point, bringing the rate down to 2 percent, as it attempts to ward off a prolonged recession.
Thursday's decision by the central bank comes shortly before the European Central Bank is also expected to announce a cut in rates, widely tipped to be at least three quarters of a percent to 2.5 percent.
The cut in Britain takes rates down to their lowest since 1951 and many economists are predicting they will fall further in coming months, to as low as 1 percent or even zero.
Official figures have confirmed that the 15 countries that share the euro are in recession, while in Britain, the government has warned the economy will contract by over 1 percent in 2009.

The Swedish Riksbank cut rates by a record 1.75 percentage points.


(Dec 4- 13.45 CET) Pre-Market trading points to lower openining for US markets.

Interest rate cuts expected before year end

November 3. The current interest rates.
This week the ECB and the Bank of England could cut rates. We expect each of them to cut rates by 50 basis points, ½%, it's a more or less symbolic gesture. It depends very much on the graveness of current economic citcumstances or how central bankers judge the situation, when they do a 1% or more rate cut it means trouble ahead.
FED's chairman Bernanke last week already said, he does not expect very much of further rate cuts, and he has to reckon with the new Obama team. If the economic and financial situation deteriorates further between now and the 16th of December we can expect an other 25 basis points cut from the FED.

Download PDF Beige Book December 3 (Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District)