Analysis: Interest Rates

China's port jam eases, but refrigerated container rates soar

Severe congestion at Chinese ports is easing, say officials and industry participants, although a logjam of refrigerated containers has disrupted supplies of fresh and frozen food and pushed up...

ECB approves fresh stimulus for reeling economy but keeps rates steady

The European Central Bank approved fresh stimulus measures on Thursday to help the euro zone economy cope with the growing cost of the coronavirus epidemic, but kept interest rates unchanged in a move...

Nigeria stocks fall, bond spreads widen as investors fret over naira, oil price

Nigerian stocks sank to a more than four-year low on Wednesday, while bond yield spreads widened as jittery investors fret over a possible naira devaluation after oil prices plunged.

South Africa rates to fall a modest 25 bps on March 19

South Africa's central bank will cut rates by 25 basis points next week to lift the economy out of recession, easing less aggressively than other global central banks trying to mitigate damage from...

Britain scraps business rates for small firms

British finance minister Rishi Sunak scrapped business rates for small firms in an exceptional step to help them get through disruption caused by the outbreak of coronavirus....

Britain fires with both barrels - emergency rate cut and budget boost

The Bank of England slashed interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday and announced support for bank lending just hours before the unveiling of a budget splurge designed to stave off a...

China central bank sets caps on some structured deposit rates - statement

China's central bank has placed caps on some interest rates financial institutions offer on high-yield structured deposits, according to a statement seen by Reuters on Wednesday, as Beijing guides...

Big banks predict Fed could take interest rates to zero

A brutal global equities sell-off on Monday, sparked by a plunge in oil prices, has raised expectations of further policy easing by some of the world's most influential central banks to shield...

Trump presses 'pathetic' Fed to cut rates more aggressively

President Donald Trump on Tuesday lashed into the U.S. Federal Reserve and its chairman Jerome Powell, calling the institution pathetic, slow moving and saying it should bring U.S. interest rates down...

Nigeria stocks, bonds fall, naira eases after oil prices plunge

Nigerian stocks and bonds fell on Tuesday, while the naira eased, after a sell-off triggered by a slump in global oil prices.

Traders bet U.S. Fed will slash interest rates in coming months

Futures traders are betting the Federal Reserve will slash U.S. interest rates in coming months to blunt damage to the world's largest economy, as governments and companies move to control the spread...

Coronavirus boosts Wall Street trading, easing pain from lower rates

Market volatility related to the coronavirus has provided a welcome boost for Wall Street banks' trading businesses, helping to offset the much-bigger drag of lower interest rates on lending profits,...

Bank of Canada takes cue from Fed and others, slashes rates over coronavirus fears

The Bank of Canada, taking its cue from other central banks, slashed a key interest rate by the most in more than a decade on Wednesday to help tackle a coronavirus outbreak and said it would cut...

BOK says Fed rate cut gives it more policy room, may buy bonds to curb volatility

South Korea's central bank said on Wednesday that the U.S. Federal Reserve's emergency interest rate cut gives it more policy room to manoeuvre by reducing the risks of capital outflows from Asia's...

China's central bank keeps short-term rates steady despite Fed easing

China's central bank kept short-term borrowing costs steady on Wednesday, shrugging off the U.S. Federal Reserve's emergency policy rate cut overnight.

Fed cuts rates to blunt coronavirus impact, markets drop

The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Tuesday in a bid to shield the world's largest economy from the impact of the coronavirus, but the emergency move failed to comfort U.S. financial...

Taiwan's central bank to stabilise forex market after Fed cuts rates

Taiwan's central bank will act to stabilise the foreign exchange market after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates in response to the fast-spreading coronavirus, a bank official told Reuters on...

WHO warns of global shortage of medical equipment to fight coronavirus

The World Health Organization on Tuesday warned of a global shortage and price gouging for protective equipment to fight the fast-spreading coronavirus and asked companies and governments to increase...

Dollar dives after U.S. Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to battle coronavirus

The U.S. dollar fell across the board on Tuesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates in an emergency move designed to shield the world's largest economy from the impact of the...