In October of 2008, during the height of global financial crisis, FED opened temporary currency swap lines with other central banks around the world. It was one of the measures taken by financial authorities to provide liquidity to the system during turbulent times. This program was meant to facilitate lending in US Dollars around the [...]

According to the figures released today, US economy grew faster than expected at the end of last year. Gross Domestic Product grew in the fourth quarter of 2009 by annualized 5.7%, more than the 4.7% estimate. This marks the largest GDP increase in 6 years. Numbers are not final and subject to revision. Initial reports for [...]

Interest rate decisions from the two central banks yesterday didn’t produce any surprises. FED has left its benchmark unchanged at 0%-0.25% target, while Reserve Bank of New Zealand stayed with the current 2.5%. Analysts are pouring over the statements looking for subtle hues in language of the news in search of “hawkish” or “dovish” tones. [...]