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Yearly Archives: 2025
Bank of Canada Watch—Dec 2025 Meeting
The Bank of Canada on Wednesday decided to hold policy rate at 2.25% unchanged, as expected by markets. However, what is a notable is the Bank continues to show dovish bias given the recent rebound in economic data.
Reserve Management Purchases: The return of ‘non-QE’ asset purchases
Reserve Management Purchases (RMP) is a form of open market operations under which the Federal Reserve injects reserves into the banking system through "permanent" asset purchases with an aim to ensure the level of reserves remain "ample".
Canada Labor Market Watch
Canada's unemployment rate dropped substantially and unexpectedly to 6.5% in November, from 6.9% in the prior month, showing signs of a much-needed resiliency in the North American economy.
Standing Repo Facility Watch – Is the Fed’s ceiling tool working?
The Federal Reserve announced after the December meeting that it removed the aggregate limit on the Standing Repo Facility (SRF).
Repo rates spiked toward the end of the week, with SOFR and the Tri-party General Collateral rate (TGCR) reaching 4.12% and 4.08% on Friday, respectively, breaching the Federal Reserve's overnight interest rate target range.
Canada GDP Q3 2025
While GDP rebounded by 0.65% in Q3 (2.6% annualized), the expansion was driven almost entirely by a 2.2% drop in imports.
Canada GDP rebound masks lackluster domestic demand
The Canadian economy saw a significant rebound in the third quarter. A 0.65% expansion in the quarter was more than enough to recover the downwardly revised 0.47% contraction in the previous second quarter.
Why the Fed’s Standing Repo Facility Isn’t for Daily Use: An Explainer
"The [Standing Repo Facility (SRF)] rate is set at the top of the FOMC’s target range for the federal funds rate. This combination of an ample supply of reserves and an SRF rate at the top of the target range reduces the day-to-day reliance on the facility except during periods of significant upward pressure on rates resulting from strong liquidity demand or market stress," said John Williams
The Fed’s ‘leaky ceiling’ problem
Why is the Fed's SRF failing? Top Fed officials called the issue a "leaky ceiling" that doomed Quantitative Tightening (QT). Learn how low bank participation and the leaky floor analogy suggest new policy changes.
If the Fed ends QT too soon, it risks discrediting its ceiling tools
Analysts are expecting the Federal Reserve to announce the end of quantitative tightening (QT) at the upcoming meeting this week. The speculation is fueled by Chairman Jerome Powell's speech earlier this month in which he mentioned the supply of reserves may reach an "ample" level "in coming months."
Will QT finish before Powell’s chairman term ends?
Quantitative tightening (QT) may reach its end point "in the coming months," said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in a speech last week.
What does it mean? Will QT finish before Powell's chairman term ends?
Bank of Canada drops interest rate to 2.5% — also a risk management cut
After holding the policy rate unchanged in the past three meetings, Bank of Canada on Wednesday resumed its rate cut cycle, lowering its target for the overnight rate by 25 basis points to 2.5%.
September FOMC Meeting: The Potential Dissenters
The Federal Reserve is expected to cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points this week. This has been the baseline market assumption since Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole, in which he proclaimed, “the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance."
The question is, how many dissenting votes will Powell face in this meeting?
US PPI drops to 2.6% in August— a tale of two service prices
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand (PPI-FD) declined 0.1% MoM in Aug, bring the annual increase down to 2.6% from 3.1% in the previous month.
Canada unemployment rate surges to 7.1% in Aug
The unemployment rate in Canada has risen to 7.1% in August, the highest level since May 2016 outside of the pandemic era, StatCan reported Friday.
Canada GDP shrinks 0.4% in Q2, is it all gloomy?
Canada's GDP contracted by 0.4% (or 1.6% annualized) over the second quarter, amid a 7.5% (26.7% annualized) drop in exports as the impact of US-imposed tariffs started to bite.
Canada retail sales up 1.5% MoM in June, likely followed by 0.8% drop in July
Canada retail sales increased 1.46% month-over-month in June while core retail sales, which exclude gasoline and auto sales, was up 1.95%.
Hold on, Bank of England: The Fed is not so different from you on QT!
The Bank of England on Thursday released its latest Monetary Policy Report, announcing its decision to lower its policy rate by 25 bps to 4%. The report contains a lot of excellent analysis, including on the recent rise in food prices, the effect of trade war as well as a review of its quantitative tightening policy.
But one thing, a comparatively much less important thing, in the review just stuck in my mind...
Standing Repo Facility — the Fed’s soon-to-be most important tool?
Standing Repo Facility (SRF) is a relatively young Federal Reserve facility. Formally established as a permanent tool in July 2021, SRF allows banks to obtain overnight liquidity with high-quality collaterals like Treasuries through a repurchase agreement. Most people may not be familiar with this "obscure" Fed tool, but it is possible that SRF will soon become one of the Fed's most important tools.
Trump appointees will get Fed board majority when Powell is gone – and it matters
Trump-appointed Fed governors will hold a board majority by the time Powell steps down as a governor. And that could matter a lot.
Hong Kong soaks up HKD 30 billion from interbank market to defend currency peg
Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) intervened twice in the foreign exchange market on Thursday (July 3) to soak up a total of HKD 29.6 billion from the city's interbank liquidity market, as HKD exchange rate fell toward the weak end of its official trading band.
‘Unusually low’ Hong Kong interest rate is a policy choice*
A careful study of Hong Kong's currency peg that explain why the current low-interest rate environment can be interpreted as a result of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's policy choice.
Shadow Fed Chair — and Powell’s nuclear option to counter it
President Trump's plan to install a "Shadow Chair" months before Jerome Powell's term ends will definitely reshape US monetary policy — but it could face a surprising challenge from Powell himself.
Why is the Hong Kong-US interest rate spread so persistent? — Currency peg in the age of abundant liquidity
A spread of over 3.5 percentage points between US and Hong Kong Interest rate persisted for close to two months and so far arbitrage has failed to close the gap, leading to discussion of whether Hong Kong's Linked Exchange System is failing. This article, however, will explore some technical factors behind this interesting interest rate gap.
Hong Kong dollar amid ‘Asian Financial Crisis in reverse’ — basic explainer
An explainer on how Hong Kong Linked Exchange Rate System works, what Aggregate Balance is, and how interest rate arbitrage help maintains Linked Exchange Rate System.
Where are the endpoints of QT? Ample Reserve System vs Demand-driven Floor System
Quantitative tightening (QT)—a process central banks use to reverse years of liquidity creation from quantitative easing (QE)—is concluding in many advanced economies. The central banks are growing confident that reserve levels in their financial systems are nearing their endpoints.
Where are the endpoints of QT and what come next?
First sighting of Trump II tariff revenue surge
The US government on April 22 received USD 11.7 billion from customer duties in a single day, the first time we can observe a substantial increase in import duties revenue resulted from the new of tariff from the second Trump administration.
Should Federal Reserve use scenario analysis to handle trade war uncertainty?
The Fed is currently in a "wait and see" mode in deciding what is the reaction to Trump's trade policy. But is it possible for the Fed to be a bit more proactive than merely saying "we will be able to update you further when we know more details"?
Enters scenario analysis.
No, PPI is not a measure of wholesale inflation
A standard perception of PPI is that it is a measure of "wholesale inflation", but the BLS told EconReporter that this interpretation of PPI is not at all correct.
