Central banking

All roads led to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this weekend, as central bankers, chief executives of banks, finance ministers, U.S. government representatives and academics all converged at this scenic location to air their views, both formally and informally, on various economic issues. This two-day...

Broadly speaking, political donors on Wall Street backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in this year's presidential election. Judging by the reaction to Republican Donald Trump's stunning upset, financial services stocks and the corresponding exchange-traded funds are comfortable with the idea of...

Mohamed El-Erian, a well-respected economist and chief economic adviser at Allianz, isn't a fan of owning stocks. In an interview with Bloomberg, El-Erian said he isn't avoiding stocks because of the perceived risks. In fact, his portfolio composition contains assets generally considered to be...

It was not long ago that the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSE: UUP) was the king of currency exchange-traded funds. This year, thanks in large part to the Federal Reserve's refusal to raise interest rates, the dollar and UUP have almost been reduced to court jester status. What...

The Bank of England on Thursday voted to maintain its 0.25 percent interest rate but hinted a further cut could occur before the end of the year. The Bank of England lowered its key interest rate on August 4 to 0.25 percent from 0.50 percent. The central bank noted at that time that economic...

The Bank of England met on Thursday, and, as expected, the central bank lowered its key interest rate for the first time in seven years to 0.25 percent from 0.5 percent. The vote to lower rates was unanimous across all nine officials, and the majority of officials expect to implement another rate...

As was the case in previous periods of emerging markets strength, Thai stocks and the iShares MSCI Thailand Inv Mrkt Index Fd (NYSE: THD) are excelling this year as broader developing markets benchmarks rebound. The lone dedicated Thailand ETF trading in New York is up 27.7 percent year-to-date,...

Underscoring the vulnerability of U.K. assets in the post-Brexit world, the Guggenheim CurrencyShares British (NYSE: FXB) is lower by nearly 12 percent over the past month. Remembering that when an investor opts for international stocks or funds he or she not only incurs equity risk, but currency...

The Central Bank of the United States has several arrows in its quiver when it comes to monetary policy, or the method by which the Federal Reserve manages money for the country. One of the most often used is quantitative easing (nicknamed "QE"). Often spoken of as “printing...

JPMorgan has upgraded HSBC Holdings plc (ADR) (NYSE: HSBC) to Neutral from Underweight due to its "defensive" nature post Brexit. The brokerage also downgraded many U.K. and European banks. Analyst Kian Abouhossein said following the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU, "We see spillover effect to the...

Now that Britain has officially voted to leave the eurozone, central banks are left to decide what (if anything) they will need to do to stabilize global markets. Several Wall Street analysts have already given their takes on the issue. Capital Economics believes the rhetoric about the dangers of a...

Ric Deverell of Credit Suisse said in a research note Friday the United Kingdom's voting outcome to leave the European Union represents "the most significant pull back to-date from the post WWII consensus of closer integration and open trade." However, the actual path forward is "not yet clear,"...

The eurozone economic recovery is ongoing. That is a statement some investors may be tired of hearing because they've been hearing it for four or five years now, but data indicate even peripheral eurozone economies are farming though lingering pockets of concern. Although the euro is...

With the euro stronger against the dollar and the European Central Bank (ECB) dispatching a series of disappointing monetary easing efforts to global investors this year, it is not surprising that eurozone stocks and the corresponding U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds are scuffling. What's Going On...

Would the adoption of digital currency, such as Bitcoin, solve central banks' problems? Probably not, said Bloomberg View columnist Leonid Bershidsky. Central banks are mulling to get paper currency out of people's hands due to money laundering issues and negative rates. Bershidsky recalled that in...