5 Min Read
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors will be scrutinizing the Federal Reserve’s comments at the close of its policy meeting this week, which will come on Wednesday, for insight into the central bank’s thinking on inflation, bond purchases and risks to the financial system posed by soaring asset prices.
FILE PHOTO: The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue is pictured in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
Here are some questions investors may have:
(GRAPHIC: Inflation watch - )
WHERE IS INFLATION HEADED?
Trillions of dollars in federal stimulus spending coupled with an economic reopening as more Americans get vaccinated against the coronavirus has investors staring at the specter of overheating prices.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
WARSAW, April 27 (Reuters) - Poland’s central bank could consider ending its bond purchase programme in the autumn if COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and the economy starts to return to normal, Polish Monetary Policy Council (MPC) member Jerzy Zyzynski said.
Poland’s central bank started buying state and state-secured bonds in March 2020 to ensure market liquidity, and has increased its purchases this year in the face of rising yields.
“If it turns out that the economy is returning to normal, then in autumn one could think about ending the bond purchase program,” Zyzynski told Reuters in an interview on Monday.
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: Candles are lit in memory of Hungary s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) victims in Budapest, Hungary, December 21, 2020. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Coronavirus infections have started to rise again in Hungary, probably due to the spread of the variant of the disease first detected in Britain, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.
However, Orban said there was no need for further lockdown measures to curb the spread, as a planned acceleration of inoculations with Russian and Chinese vaccines could offset the rise in cases in coming weeks.
“If we start inoculations with the Chinese vaccine as well, by Easter we will be able to vaccinate all the (more than 2 million) people who have registered for vaccines,” Orban said.
By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
OTTAWA, April 27 (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada is expecting strong consumption-led growth in the second half of the year as vaccinations against COVID-19 continue, Governor Tiff Macklem said on Tuesday.
In comments to the House of Commons finance committee, Macklem reiterated that considerable uncertainty surrounded the central bank’s forecast that economic slack should be absorbed in the second half of next year. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Leslie Adler)
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: A medical worker fills a syringe with the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is produced in India and marketed as Covishield, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 16, 2021. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine has agreed with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development on a $90-million loan to procure vaccines against COVID-19, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.
“The project will provide funds for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines for the population of Ukraine in addition to the number of vaccines that were guaranteed under the COVAX and GAVI partnership,” the ministry said in a statement.