Topic
Interest Rates
Everything Briefed has filed against Interest Rates, most recent first.
38 stories
Interest rate decisions by the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve set the base cost of borrowing across an economy. Rate movements ripple through mortgages, corporate debt, equity valuations, and currency markets.
Coverage38 shown
US inflation cools to 3.4%, core CPI up just 0.2%Core CPI rose 0.2% in July, the softest monthly print in months, pulling annual inflation down to 3.4%. That is still nearly double the Fed's target, but the direction of travel is what markets wan…Japan's producer prices stay hot as BOJ weighs its next moveWholesale inflation in Japan is holding stubbornly high, complicating the Bank of Japan's case for a slow, gradual path on rates. Producer prices feed through to consumer inflation with a lag, so p…Gold has its best week since January on a jobs missUS nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000 in July, reversing a downwardly revised 20,000 gain in June, and spot gold jumped 2.3% to $4,336.11 an ounce on the release, hitting a seven-week high according t…The Fed's split just became public, and Treasury yields noticedTwo Fed officials dissenting on a hold is unusual enough. What's rattling Treasury desks is the silence that followed. Apollo's chief economist Torsten Slok is calling it a 'yo-yo' bond market, wit…Bank of England holds at 3.75%, and that's the boring partNobody serious expected a cut today, so the hold itself is not the story. What matters is the vote split and the language in the minutes, because that's what moves the November meeting from a coin …UK mortgage rates tick up, and the base rate cut window just got narrowerRates hitting their highest point in a month reflects swap markets pricing in less certainty about a Bank of England cut than they were three weeks ago, largely on the back of sticky services infla…Malaysia's central bank is running out of room to keep liquidity looseRate-hike bets are building in Malaysia as liquidity tightens, a reversal from the easing bias most emerging Southeast Asian central banks have held for the past year. Bank Negara Malaysia has kept…Brent above $85 puts today's CPI print under more pressure than usualOil at $85 a barrel doesn't just squeeze margins, it drags straight into the inflation print markets are watching today, and traders are already repricing rate expectations ahead of the data rather…Japan's 30-year bond yield just hit a three-decade high. The global rate reckoning has a new front.Japan's long-end yields are doing something they haven't done since the mid-1990s, and the mechanism matters more than the headline number. The Bank of Japan's gradual exit from yield curve control…The US jobs market just gave the Fed the cover it needed to cutUS hiring slowed sharply in June, and the Federal Reserve's hesitation on rates suddenly looks less like caution and more like patience with a plan. Nonfarm payrolls came in well below expectations…Japan's convertible bond comeback is a direct consequence of the Bank of Japan's rate normalisationConvertible bonds are back in favour in Japan as rates continue to rise, and the logic is not complicated: as fixed-income yields climb, the equity-upside optionality embedded in convertibles looks…UK housing transaction volumes are falling and the rate path is the culpritNew property data shows homes are taking measurably longer to sell and transaction volumes are declining, with mortgage rates holding above five percent on most two-year fixed products despite two …The PBOC withheld its rate on the first overnight operation. That silence is a policy signal.China's central bank chose not to set a rate on its debut overnight lending operation, and the ambiguity is deliberate. Withholding the rate on a new instrument's first use preserves optionality an…Bond traders bet on CPI surge that keeps Fed hawkishFixed income markets are positioning for the strongest consumer price reading in years, with traders betting the data will force the Federal Reserve to stay restrictive longer than expected. The po…Dollar's 2.6% monthly rise leaves strategists waryThe Dollar Index climbed 2.6% month-to-date, its largest gain since July's 3.2% rise, as traders priced higher US rates and geopolitical safe-haven demand. USD/JPY hit 160.25, approaching levels th…ECB's Makhlouf keeps June rate hike on table as inflation risks mountGabriel Makhlouf refused to rule out another ECB rate hike next month, signaling the central bank's 2% inflation target trumps growth concerns. The Irish central bank governor told markets the ECB …US mortgage rates surge to 6.51%, highest since AugustAmerican homebuyers face a 15 basis point jump in mortgage costs this week, with 30-year rates hitting 6.51% according to Freddie Mac data. That's the steepest weekly rise since March and puts rate…Indian bond investors tap soaring swap rates to juice returnsIndian debt fund managers are layering interest rate swaps over bond portfolios as swap rates hit multi-year highs above comparable government bond yields. Five-year swaps are trading around 6.58% …Carlyle's Thomas calls June BoJ hike as intervention zone beckonsJason Thomas at Carlyle expects the Bank of Japan to raise rates at its June meeting, joining a growing consensus that the yen's structural weakness is ending. The BoJ held at 0.75% in April but th…RBC BlueBay adds yen longs as USD/JPY approaches intervention zoneRBC BlueBay increased its yen positions as USD/JPY drifted back toward 160, viewing this level as "increasingly attractive" given rising intervention risk and June BoJ hike expectations. The asset …US long bond yield hits 5.14% as inflation fears returnThe 20-year Treasury yield spiked to 5.14% on Thursday, its highest level since August 2023, as markets price in a world where inflation never really dies. Traders now assign almost two-thirds prob…Yardeni warns Fed risks losing control of rates to bond vigilantesEd Yardeni is telling the Fed to drop its easing bias or watch the bond market do the tightening for them. With the 2-year yield 25 basis points above the fed funds rate and 30-year bonds crossing …NTT Finance delays yen bond as JGB yields spikeNTT Finance has postponed a planned yen bond issue until June or later, becoming the latest casualty of Japan's savage government bond selloff. The delay comes as JGB yields have climbed sharply, m…Philippine peso hits record low despite rate hike betsThe peso touched 61.30 per dollar, its weakest ever, as energy import costs and potential sovereign downgrades outweigh expectations of BSP tightening. Analysts forecast a slide to 62 despite calls…Colombia's central bank holds rates to dodge election noiseBanco de la República held rates at 11.25% in a unanimous vote that defied every economist prediction and revealed the cost of political pressure. Fourteen of 16 analysts expected a hike with infla…Powell survives criminal probe in final Fed meetingThe US Attorney closed the criminal investigation into Jerome Powell last Friday, three days before his likely final meeting as Fed Chair. Powell confirmed he will stay on the Board of Governors un…Next financial crisis will be a slow breakdown, not a crashThe coming financial crisis will unfold as a "slow, silent breakdown" rather than 2008's sudden collapse. Rising interest rates are straining a debt-dependent global economy while credit markets sh…Gold steadies after two-day drop as oil stokes inflation fearsGold's safe-haven appeal is losing to inflation fears as US-Iran talks stall and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Higher oil prices from the supply disruption are driving expectations of prolon…Fed, Bank of Canada hold rates as war clouds policyCentral banks paused after late-2025 easing cycles, with the Fed holding at 3.5-3.75 percent despite two FOMC members dissenting for cuts. The Bank of Canada kept rates at 2.25 percent, flagging 'b…China tackles liquidity glut with drainage toolsThe People's Bank of China is addressing excess liquidity pushing money market rates to multi-year lows, with overnight repo near 1.2 percent and one-month certificate yields at January 2023 levels…Collapsing volatility supercharges carry trade returnsCurrency volatility hit multi-year lows this week, turning carry trades into the year's most reliable money printer as geopolitical risks fade and central bank policy paths crystallize. Japanese ye…Philippines central bank faces stagflation as rate decision loomsThe Philippines central bank confronts an impossible choice between fighting inflation and supporting growth, with economists split on the next rate decision. Rising food and energy costs from Midd…Goldman bets everything on rate cuts that aren't comingGoldman Sachs just staked its market outlook on central bank relief that European policymakers are actively resisting. The bank's strategists argue equity recovery hinges on 'rates relief', while E…ECB's Muller warns against market rate fantasiesECB board member Joachim Muller just told markets to stop pricing aggressive rate cuts into 2025. His call for 'vigilance without rushing' translates to: inflation is stickier than bond traders ass…Australia's unemployment holds at 4.3% despite 56,000 new full-time jobsAustralia added 56,000 full-time positions in December while unemployment stayed flat at 4.3 percent, suggesting the labour market has found its floor. The Reserve Bank of Australia now has cover t…Bank of Japan sticks to wait-and-see amid trade war uncertaintyThe Bank of Japan's default mode when facing uncertainty is simple: hold. A former BOJ executive director confirms what markets suspected — the central bank's "wait-and-see" approach makes December…Bitcoin's 6% plunge ends markets' five-day partyA crypto flash crash dragged down everything else yesterday, snapping Wall Street's longest winning streak since October. Bitcoin tumbled below $85,000 on fears the Bank of Japan might finally hike…RBNZ warns of 'decisive' action as inflation outlook spikesNew Zealand's central bank held rates at 2.25% but Governor Anna Breman warned of "decisive and timely" increases if core inflation accelerates, with the bank now forecasting annual inflation spiki…