Central banking

This is how things are going for gold exchange-traded funds this year. Physically-backed ETFs, such as the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD), have been good. Gold mining ETFs have been better. A lot better. For example, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX), is up 73.1 percent year-to-date...

The Bank of Japan kept its interest rates unchanged in a surprise move, as market participants were widely expecting the central bank to introduce further stimulus measures. Following the decision to stand pat, the question investors are now asking is if the Bank of Japan has lost its...

There is no dearth of exchange-traded funds that have “benchmark” status, and plenty of those are believed to be sound gauges of risk appetite. One of the more overlooked ETFs in terms of gauging market sentiment and risk appetite might just be the Ishares MSCI Europe Fincls Sctr Indx...

Thursday marks the end of the first quarter of 2016, and it has certainly been eventful. The S&P 500 index is higher by around 1 percent since the start of the new year, while the Dow Jones index is higher by more than 1.50 percent. However, the NASDAQ Composite index is lower by nearly 3...

Members of the Federal Reserve have been talking inflation this week. The Fed sees inflation at 2 percent before the end of 2017, well above the public's estimates. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said earlier this week that inflation could rise faster than the...

Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen said the central bank of the world's largest economy should exercise caution in proceeding with the monetary policy. "In particular, developments abroad imply that meeting our objectives for employment and inflation will likely require a somewhat lower path for...

This year's exchange-traded funds' inflows are marked by at least one obvious theme: flight to safe-haven assets. That explains the top asset-gathering ETF year-to-date is the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE: GLD) and why six of the top 10 asset-gathering ETFs are fixed income funds. Among equity-...

U.S. markets are mostly flat in early Thursday trading after the ECB issued a surprise cut to its main interest rate, lowering it from 0.05 percent to 0.00 percent. The fifth primary rate cut in Europe since the beginning of 2013 is set to go into effect on March 16. U.S. markets have shown...

The European Central Bank (ECB) stunned the market with three-pronged cut in interest rates and expansion of its bond-buying program. The ECB trimmed the interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the eurosystem by 5 basis points down to 0.00 percent. The interest rate on the marginal...

The official China PMI eased from 49.4 in January to 49.0 in February – its lowest level in 51 months. The PMI number for February fell short of consensus expectations of 49.4. According to Nomura analyst Yang Zhao, the PMI is likely headed lower from here, despite the possibility of more...

Investors have been flocking to safe-haven assets this year, but in the flight to safe currencies, the U.S. dollar has not benefited. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSE: UUP), which serves as an exchange-traded fund proxy for the U.S. Dollar Index, is off slightly year-to-date...

In a new report, HSBC analyst Steven Major addressed growing speculation that more global central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, will opt for increasingly negative interest rates to combat deflation. According to Major, negative interest rates may also be a long-term solution to global...

In a new report, JPMorgan analyst Marko Kolanovic weighed in on the current environment for equities, gold and oil, and discussed the options that central banks have moving forward. Kolanovic sees sentiment deterioration and fundamental selling from hedge funds, pensions, wealth funds and...

The recently released IntraLinks Holdings Inc (NYSE: IL)'s Deal Flow Predictor (DFP) for 1H 2016 forecasts 3.5 percent growth in global deal announcements over the same period in 2015. That’s significant said Matt Porzio, vice president of M&A strategy and product maketing at IntraLinks,...

The U.S. FOMC minutes had the market's attention on Wednesday after talk of "approaching" rate hike conditions boosted gold and Treasuries. The key points of the minutes were: The system is taking steps to prepare for the "normalization" of monetary policy. Most Fed...