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Federal Open Market Committee

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What goes up must come down: Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell leaves a news conference in Washington. The Fed’s hiking cycle contributed to the sudden collapse of tech lender Silicon Valley Bank recently. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP
2008 GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

Banking shock exposes cheap cash addiction

The turmoil, which some say was inevitable given aggressive hiking cycles, exposes the dependency of advanced economies on cheap credit

  • Sarah Smit
7 min read
The South African Reserve Bank is likely to hold interest rates unchanged
ANNABEL BISHOP

Explainer: What a weak rand means for interest rates

Later this month the South African Reserve Bank will decide how big a rise the country’s flailing economy can take

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read
The key drivers of price growth in July were food and non-alcoholic beverages (up 5.7% and contributing 1.0 percentage points). Photo: Supplied
BANK OF ENGLAND

Inflation cools to 7.4% year-on-year

Prices have slowly retreated from their July peak, when inflation increased at its highest rate since 2009

  • Sarah Smit
2 min read
Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago
FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE

Another 75 basis point hike as Reserve Bank seeks to tame ‘inflation monster’

Consumer inflation hit 7.6% year-on-year in October, bucking the downward trend that had been anticipated after the July ‘peak’

  • Sarah Smit
5 min read
Economists widely expect the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee to once again hold the interest rate at 8.25% when it concludes its meeting on Thursday.
CITIBANK

Reserve Bank may have helped South Africa avoid a more severe crunch

This is according to some economists, who say the Reserve Bank got ahead of the curve before inflation became entrenched

  • Sarah Smit
6 min read
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said there is no fixed schedule for tapering and it could still start this year should data confirm the central bank’s “basic outlook.” (Reuters)
FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE

Rand weakens on signs US Fed gains were overdone

The rand has depreciated as investors gauged that a surge against the dollar, after the US Fed suddenly maintained monetary stimulus, was overdone.

  • Robert Brand
2 min read
Emerging markets have been pummelled in recent weeks on the back of fears that the US Federal Reserve could begin reining in its extremely loose monetary policy
FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE

Rand falls ahead of Fed policy meeting

The rally of the rand in recent days will likely continue to lose steam as the market looks out for a decision to cut monthly bond purchases.

  • Robert Brand
2 min read
BEAR STEARNS

Gold, oil continue to climb on dollar slump

Gold added $24,95, or 2,49%, to trade at $1 025,05 by 1.30pm on Monday — this after rising more than 3% to a record $1 032,60 a troy ounce in overnight trade. Oil…

  • Staff Reporter
3 min read
FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE

Platinum strikes record; gold near all-time high

Platinum struck a record for the second straight day on Tuesday, catching up with gold as a weaker United States dollar and persistent supply problems in South Africa ignited…

  • Lewa Pardomuan
2 min read
ALAN RUSKIN

Fed slashes US rates in bid to thwart recession

The United States Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed a key interest rate by a hefty three-quarters of a percentage point, the biggest cut in more than 23 years, after a two-day…

  • David Lawder
3 min read
BEN BERNANKE

Fed slashes US interest rates

The United States Federal Reserve on Tuesday slashed benchmark US interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point in an emergency bid to lend support to a US economy some…

  • Staff Reporter
2 min read