Bitcoin price today: hits record high over $124k on rate cut bets, corporate cheer
Dollar stayed in range against European majors but strengthened further against commodity currencies. St. Louis Fed president James Bullard said that FOMC could drop the pledge to keep rate lows for considerable time next month. He noted that in September, it's "premature" to remove "considerable time" from the statement as QE hasn't ended yet. And, "a more natural juncture would probably be the October meeting" when "QE is projected to end." Bullard also maintained his projection that Fed would hike rate by the end of 1Q 2015. He added that Fed's projections were for "fairly strong growth" in 2H2014 and growth would be over 3% again in 2015.
In Switzerland, SNB president Thomas Jordan reiterated that "the minimum exchange rate remains for the foreseeable future the key monetary policy instrument". And, SNB will defend it will "utmost determination" while "the franc remains highly valued, and we have no inflation risks in Switzerland." Also, the central bank is "prepared to buy unlimited amounts of foreign currencies and, if necessary, take further measures immediately."
In Australia, the RBA warned in the semiannual financial stability review that "the composition of housing and mortgage markets is becoming unbalanced." And, "a crucial question for both macroeconomic and financial stability is whether lending practices across the banking industry are conservative enough for the current combination of low interest rates, strong housing price growth and higher household indebtedness than in past decades." Overall, the review suggested that RBA would have additional steps to reinforce sound lending practices, particularly for lending to investors."
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On the data front, New Zealand trade deficit narrowed to NZD -472m in August versus expectation of NZD -1125m. Japan manufacturing PMI dropped to 51.7 in September. German Ifo business climate is the main focus in European session. Swiss will release UBS consumption indicator while US will release new home sales.
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