NEWSLETTER
Thursday / September 29Sep 29
Thursday / January 27
FOMC policies
The Fed said it was likely to raise interest rates in March after its two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting that ended Wednesday, reaffirming its plans to end bond purchases.
"I would say that the committee is of a mind to raise the federal funds rate at the March meeting, assuming that the conditions are appropriate for doing so," Fed Chairman Powell said at a news conference, adding that the Fed will follow up with the eventual reduction in asset purchases as needed.
The bank said it would take action on a number of issues, including the pace of interest rate hikes and how quickly it would allow its huge balance sheet to decline.
Powell reiterated that price risks are still to the upside with inflation getting higher and worse.
FOMC members agreed on a set of principles to "significantly reduce" the size of the Fed's holdings. Officials said they would shrink assets by limiting the amount of maturity bond principal the Fed would reinvest each month.
Over time, the Fed's balance sheet will not only shrink, but shift away from mortgage-backed mortgages and focus on U.S. Treasuries, thereby minimizing the impact of Federal Reserve assets on credit allocation across sectors of the economy, the central bank said.
“There’s a risk that the high inflation we’re seeing will be prolonged, there’s a risk that it will move even higher. We have to be in a position with our monetary policy to address all of those plausible outcomes,” Powell said.
Russia-Ukraine talks
According to the Paris government, the political advisers of the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany will continue their "Normandy format" talks on eastern Ukraine in Berlin in two weeks.
The advisers to the Russian, Ukrainian, French and German heads of state, meeting in Paris on Wednesday, issued a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to maintain the ceasefire within the framework of the Mins Agreements, according to the statement on the French presidency's website.
"The countries support the unconditional observance of the ceasefire regardless of differences in other matters related to the implementation of the Minsk agreements," the statement said.
The Minsk agreements, signed in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively, outline the steps needed to end the conflict between government troops and armed groups in the Donbas, which has left nearly 14,000 deaths since April 2014.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington delivered a written letter to Russia addressing Moscow's concerns.
Blinken said that the letter sent by the US Ambassador to Russia to the Russian Foreign Ministry sets a serious diplomatic path forward. Blinken said the letter outlined US "concerns and proposals in writing" to in response to Russia, not disclosing its content.
US stocks
Wall Street traded volatile on Wednesday.
The blue-chip average Dow Jones fell 129.64 points, or 0.4%, to 34,168.09. The Dow rose more than 500 points at one point, but slumped on the Fed's statements. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 4,349.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished with little change at 13,542.12, supported by Microsoft's earnings.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed above 1.8% after Fed Chairman Powell's comments, with signs that the central bank may be more aggressive in its tightening policy.
All three major indices were negative in January. The Nasdaq is in correction territory, down 13% for the month. The S&P 500 is about 10% down from its high.
North Korea test
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea fired two missiles from the eastern vicinity of Hamhung around Thursday morning. According to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, he wrote that his missiles were estimated to be a short-range ballistic missile.
This is North Korea's sixth missile launch in 2022. Pyongyang launched missiles on the 5th and 11th, allegedly hypersonic, then tested Short-range ballistic missiles on the 14th and 17th of the month, and fired a cruise missile on the 25th.
The leader of the communist regime, Kim Jong-un, at the Political Bureau meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea on the 19th, gave the order to prepare for the resumption of nuclear testing and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches.
WTO cases
The European Union is preparing to file a lawsuit against China in the World Trade Organization (WTO), after completing its own investigation into Beijing's alleged pressure on Lithuania.
The EU will seek consultation with China in Geneva, after gathering what it sees as sufficient evidence from talks with affected Lithuanian businesses last month.
China has been accused of imposing an unofficial embargo on Lithuanian exports after the Lithuanian government authorized the opening of the controversially-named Taiwanese diplomatic mission in the capital, Vilnius.
Lithuania's exports to China fell by 90 percent both on year-on-year and monthly in December.
The WTO on Wednesday permitted China to place duties on $645 million worth of U.S. imports per year, in a long-running anti-dumping dispute with Washington.
"The deeply disappointing decision today by the WTO arbitrator reflects erroneous Appellate Body interpretations that damage the ability of WTO members to defend our workers and businesses from China's trade-distorting subsidies," said Adam Hodge, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. "Today's decision reinforces the need to reform WTO rules and dispute settlement, which have been used to shield China's non-market economic practices and undermine fair, market-oriented competition."
The Fed said it was likely to raise interest rates in March after its two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting that ended Wednesday, reaffirming its plans to end bond purchases.
"I would say that the committee is of a mind to raise the federal funds rate at the March meeting, assuming that the conditions are appropriate for doing so," Fed Chairman Powell said at a news conference, adding that the Fed will follow up with the eventual reduction in asset purchases as needed.
The bank said it would take action on a number of issues, including the pace of interest rate hikes and how quickly it would allow its huge balance sheet to decline.
Powell reiterated that price risks are still to the upside with inflation getting higher and worse.
FOMC members agreed on a set of principles to "significantly reduce" the size of the Fed's holdings. Officials said they would shrink assets by limiting the amount of maturity bond principal the Fed would reinvest each month.
Over time, the Fed's balance sheet will not only shrink, but shift away from mortgage-backed mortgages and focus on U.S. Treasuries, thereby minimizing the impact of Federal Reserve assets on credit allocation across sectors of the economy, the central bank said.
“There’s a risk that the high inflation we’re seeing will be prolonged, there’s a risk that it will move even higher. We have to be in a position with our monetary policy to address all of those plausible outcomes,” Powell said.
Russia-Ukraine talks
According to the Paris government, the political advisers of the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany will continue their "Normandy format" talks on eastern Ukraine in Berlin in two weeks.
The advisers to the Russian, Ukrainian, French and German heads of state, meeting in Paris on Wednesday, issued a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to maintain the ceasefire within the framework of the Mins Agreements, according to the statement on the French presidency's website.
"The countries support the unconditional observance of the ceasefire regardless of differences in other matters related to the implementation of the Minsk agreements," the statement said.
The Minsk agreements, signed in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively, outline the steps needed to end the conflict between government troops and armed groups in the Donbas, which has left nearly 14,000 deaths since April 2014.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington delivered a written letter to Russia addressing Moscow's concerns.
Blinken said that the letter sent by the US Ambassador to Russia to the Russian Foreign Ministry sets a serious diplomatic path forward. Blinken said the letter outlined US "concerns and proposals in writing" to in response to Russia, not disclosing its content.
US stocks
Wall Street traded volatile on Wednesday.
The blue-chip average Dow Jones fell 129.64 points, or 0.4%, to 34,168.09. The Dow rose more than 500 points at one point, but slumped on the Fed's statements. The S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 4,349.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished with little change at 13,542.12, supported by Microsoft's earnings.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed above 1.8% after Fed Chairman Powell's comments, with signs that the central bank may be more aggressive in its tightening policy.
All three major indices were negative in January. The Nasdaq is in correction territory, down 13% for the month. The S&P 500 is about 10% down from its high.
North Korea test
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced that North Korea fired two missiles from the eastern vicinity of Hamhung around Thursday morning. According to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, he wrote that his missiles were estimated to be a short-range ballistic missile.
This is North Korea's sixth missile launch in 2022. Pyongyang launched missiles on the 5th and 11th, allegedly hypersonic, then tested Short-range ballistic missiles on the 14th and 17th of the month, and fired a cruise missile on the 25th.
The leader of the communist regime, Kim Jong-un, at the Political Bureau meeting of the Workers' Party of Korea on the 19th, gave the order to prepare for the resumption of nuclear testing and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches.
WTO cases
The European Union is preparing to file a lawsuit against China in the World Trade Organization (WTO), after completing its own investigation into Beijing's alleged pressure on Lithuania.
The EU will seek consultation with China in Geneva, after gathering what it sees as sufficient evidence from talks with affected Lithuanian businesses last month.
China has been accused of imposing an unofficial embargo on Lithuanian exports after the Lithuanian government authorized the opening of the controversially-named Taiwanese diplomatic mission in the capital, Vilnius.
Lithuania's exports to China fell by 90 percent both on year-on-year and monthly in December.
The WTO on Wednesday permitted China to place duties on $645 million worth of U.S. imports per year, in a long-running anti-dumping dispute with Washington.
"The deeply disappointing decision today by the WTO arbitrator reflects erroneous Appellate Body interpretations that damage the ability of WTO members to defend our workers and businesses from China's trade-distorting subsidies," said Adam Hodge, a spokesman for the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. "Today's decision reinforces the need to reform WTO rules and dispute settlement, which have been used to shield China's non-market economic practices and undermine fair, market-oriented competition."
