Economic News

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Interest rates in Europe are starting to mimic U.S. rates, raising the question of whether a U.S.-led economic slowdown is already impacting global growth, analysts and economists said Friday. Euro zone short-term interest rates briefly topped long-term rates for the first time in over six years on Thursday, creating a so-called yield curve inversion. On Friday, short-te ...

LONDON (AFX) - The euro and the pound dropped off earlier highs against the dollar on position squaring going into the weekend as market players digested a string of comments from central bank officials during a conference in Frankfurt today. The euro had earlier jumped to near 12-week highs against the dollar, while the pound soared to 18-month highs after comments late yesterday from People's B ...

LONDON (AFX) - European government bonds pushed higher on the unexpected news that the French economy failed to grow at all during the third quarter of the year, and inflation across the 12-nation single currency zone dipped even further below the European Central Bank's target The French statistics office reported that third quarter GDP was unchanged during the period, against the near six-year  ...

The dollar extended its declines Friday, hitting its weakest reading against the euro in nearly three months as well as a one-week low against Japan's yen and a 19-month nadir against the British pound. The continuing pullback again reflected the currency market's reaction to comments out of China that the country is planning to diversify its foreign- exchange reserves. The U.S. currency tum ...

(updating with comments on role of money growth in previous rate decisions) FRANKFURT (AFX) - European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said strong money and credit growth played a key role in the ECB's decision to start hiking interest rates last year. Trichet said many economists regarded the tightening of monetary policy as premature. "In fact, at that time the signals coming  ...

(Updating with more details and comment) FRANKFURT (AFX) - China's much criticised slowly-slowly approach in allowing its currency to appreciate is aimed mainly at safeguarding the domestic economy Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor People's Bank of China, said today. Speaking at the European Central Bank's central banking conference, Zhou said he preferred a "gradual approach to reform" bec ...

(Updating with more comment) FRANKFURT (AFX) - Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed will continue to monitor and analyse money supply growth even though the relationship between money and inflation has often been unstable. "Although a heavy reliance on monetary aggregates as a guide to policy would seem to be unwise in the US context, money growth may still contain important i ...

Treasurys posted faint gains early Friday, putting slight pressure on yields, as investors took in remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet about the different roles that money growth assumes in the U.S. and the Eurozone. The 10-year Treasury note last was up 1/32 at 100-5/32 with a yield (TNX) of 4.605%, down from 4.632% in late ...

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed will continue to monitor and analyse money growth even though the relationship between money and inflation has often been unstable. "Although a heavy reliance on monetary aggregates as a guide to policy would seem to be unwise in the US context, money growth may still contain important information about future economic deve ...

WASHINGTON (AFX) - The Federal Reserve closely follows the money supply but doesn't let that information alone set policy to steady the economy and keep inflation in check, Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday. In a scholarly speech to a conference of central bankers in Frankfurt, Germany, Bernanke provided an historical account of the changing role the money supply has played in Fed policymaking ov ...