S&P has lowered the EU's long-term credit rating to AA+ from AAA, due to the "overall weaker creditworthiness of the EU's 28 member states" and concerns about budget talks. The downgrade doesn't affect the ratings of individual countries, the agency said, although it does follow cuts for Italy, Spain, Holland and France in recent years. The euro was flat at $1.3657 at the time of writing.
As anticipated, the Bank of Japan has left its key interest rate at 0.1% and maintained its program of expanding the monetary base by ¥60-70T a year. The BOJ expects the annual rate of core CPI to rise "for the time being," while the bank also maintained its view that the economy will continue recovering moderately. However, the BOJ believes that demand will increase before a rise in sales tax in April and then fall after the hike is implemented.
The Federal Reserve's balance sheet has topped $4T for the first time after rising $14.1B this week to $4.01T. The milestone comes as the central bank plans to scale back its bond-buying program to $75B a month from $85B. Prior to this third round of QE in September 2012, the central bank held $2.82T in assets. Its balance sheet has quadrupled since 2008.
Having approved a two-year budget deal on Wednesday, Congress now has until late February or early March to raise the $16.7T debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has warned. During the last brouhaha over the matter in October, the cap was suspended until February 7. From that date, the Treasury will be able to juggle the money about for a bit to stave off a default before running out of cash.
Source: Seeking Alpha
As anticipated, the Bank of Japan has left its key interest rate at 0.1% and maintained its program of expanding the monetary base by ¥60-70T a year. The BOJ expects the annual rate of core CPI to rise "for the time being," while the bank also maintained its view that the economy will continue recovering moderately. However, the BOJ believes that demand will increase before a rise in sales tax in April and then fall after the hike is implemented.
The Federal Reserve's balance sheet has topped $4T for the first time after rising $14.1B this week to $4.01T. The milestone comes as the central bank plans to scale back its bond-buying program to $75B a month from $85B. Prior to this third round of QE in September 2012, the central bank held $2.82T in assets. Its balance sheet has quadrupled since 2008.
Having approved a two-year budget deal on Wednesday, Congress now has until late February or early March to raise the $16.7T debt ceiling, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has warned. During the last brouhaha over the matter in October, the cap was suspended until February 7. From that date, the Treasury will be able to juggle the money about for a bit to stave off a default before running out of cash.
Source: Seeking Alpha
