The outlook for Brazilian interest rates over the next two years rose to their highest in several months, a central bank survey of economists showed on Monday, even as exchange rate and inflation expectations held steady.
Producer price inflation in Brazil jumped to its highest on record in October, figures showed on Thursday, led by another month of rising food prices, which will likely stir the debate further on the wider outlook for inflation and interest rates.
The US has cut interest rates to almost zero and launched a US$ 700bn stimulus program in a bid to protect the economy from the effect of coronavirus. It is part of a coordinated action announced on Sunday in the UK, Japan, the Eurozone, Canada, and Switzerland.
The Bank of England (BOE), the UK's central bank, cut interest rates by 0.5 percentage points on Wednesday morning as part of an emergency response to the coronavirus, or COVID-19.
US central bankers last month dismissed the idea of taking interest rates into negative territory, something President Donald Trump has called for many times, according to meeting minutes released on Wednesday.
Brazilian consumer price inflation fell to its lowest in more than a year in September, official figures on Wednesday showed, a reading below the central bank’s target that is likely to strengthen expectations of another cut in interest rates.
The European Central Bank announced a sweeping round of stimulus for the continent's slowing economy, cutting interest rates to their lowest ever level and introducing a round of quantitative easing.
Trade policy uncertainty driven by the Trump administration's escalating dispute with China means hundreds of billions of dollars in lost U.S. output and as much as US$850 billion lost globally through early next year, research published this week by the Federal Reserve suggests.
A divided Federal Reserve held the line on interest rates Wednesday and indicated formally that no cuts are coming in 2019. The decision came amid divisions over what is ahead and still leaves open the possibility that policy loosening could happen before the end of the year depending on how conditions unfold.
Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that the Federal Reserve is prepared to respond if it decides the Trump administration's trade conflicts are threatening the U.S. economy. Investors read his remarks as a signal that the Fed will likely cut interest rates later this year.