While massive monetary policy response didn’t drive inflation following the 2008/09 financial crisis, institutional investors are mulling over whether things may be different this time. The global economy has rarely seen such a swift willingness to engage with economic calamity on both monetary and fiscal levels, says Erik Weisman, chief economist and fixed income portfolio manager at MFS […]
The head of the Bank of Canada made an international pitch to his fellow central bankers on Thursday to forge closer ties with average citizens to manage economic expectations through the pandemic, or risk losing public trust and face an existential crisis. Speaking remotely at an annual gathering usually hosted in Jackson Hole, Wyo., governor […]
The Federal Reserve announced a significant change Thursday in how it manages interest rates by saying it plans to keep rates near zero even after inflation has exceeded the Fed’s two per cent target level. The change signifies that the Fed is prepared to tolerate a higher level of inflation than it generally has in […]
The second-in-command at the Bank of Canada said Wednesday that any changes to the underpinning of its monetary policy will be judged against how they affect the distribution of income and wealth in this country. Senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins said the various frameworks the bank is considering are also being tested for how they […]
The Bank of Canada is turning to the public for input on its inflation-rate target that underlies any changes to the central bank’s trend-setting interest rate. The bank had already planned on a much broader consultation than what it did for previous reviews long before the coronavirus pandemic struck Canada and forced a sharp decline […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec says the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic resulted in posting a negative return of 2.3 per cent during the first six months of 2020. The pension fund manager’s net assets stood at $333 billion as of June 30, down from $340.1 billion as of Dec. 31, […]
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Wednesday that the viral epidemic is endangering the modest economic recovery that followed a collapse in hiring and spending this spring. As a result, he said, the Fed plans to keep interest rates pinned near zero well into the future. That faltering economy, pressured by a resurgence of the […]
The Bank of Canada is holding its key interest rate at 0.25 per cent in response to what it calls the “extremely uncertain” economic outlook from the coronavirus pandemic, and plans to keep it there until the picture improves. In its updated outlook, the bank said Wednesday it expects the economy to contract by 7.8 […]
The coronavirus pandemic will leave some long-term economic damage that will only become clearer as the country moves further along a “prolonged and bumpy” course to recovery, Canada’s top central banker says. In his first speech as governor, Tiff Macklem said the central bank expects to see growth in the third quarter of this year […]
With central banks targeting short-term interest rates near zero and engaging in quantitative easing, will they resort to other monetary policy tools like yield curve control to further stimulate the economy? Yield curve control is when a central bank targets a longer-term interest rate and then pledges to buy the required amount of bonds to […]