The central bank bonanza returns to town this week and will feature plenty of big names on the agenda.
The central bank bonanza returns to town this week and will feature plenty of big names on the agenda. The BOJ, BOC, Fed, BOE, and ECB will be stepping up to the plate but are all expected to keep interest rates unchanged.
The hot topic is the Middle East war and we are now officially nine weeks into that. And yet with all the talk of progress, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and physical oil prices remain at lofty levels. Sure, the price we’re seeing on our screens may be less alarming but the prices exchanged for physical barrels and what consumers are paying at the pumps are totally different.
And it is very much the latter that is going to become a major issue for central banks. That especially if the status quo is prolonged and higher energy prices become more embedded into other parts of the economy. To keep things simple, central banks are very much considering raising interest rates now to counter surging inflation pressures from the jump in energy prices.