News
Bloomberg | ECB Maintains Benchmark Rate at 0.75% as Economic Mood Brightens
The European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold as improving economic sentiment underpinned expectations of a gradual recovery this year.
CNBC | The Fed Guessing Game: Funds Rate to Rise, but When?
The most important part of the Federal Reserve-watching game is now this: figuring out how long it will take for the unemployment rate to drop to 6.5 percent. That's the benchmark that the Fed's rate-setting Open Market Committee pegged in December as the one that will prompt it to begin raising the Fed funds rate, now set between 0 and a quarter of a percentage point.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | Deficits, Debt and the Fate of the Dollar
The year-end "fiscal cliff" tax deal sent shivers through the bond market, driving the price of 10-year Treasurys to the lowest level since April. There was a good reason. The stubborn resistance by President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to spending cuts left no further doubts about their lack of interest in the nation's No. 1 economic problem, massive federal deficits.
NBER | Product Introductions, Currency Unions, and the Real Exchange Rate
We use a novel dataset of online prices of identical goods sold by four large global retailers in dozens of countries to study good-level real exchange rates and their aggregate implications.
Blogs
WSJ | Vital Signs Chart: Dollar Gaining Ground
The dollar is gaining ground against the world’s currencies. The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against the world’s most heavily traded currencies, edged higher to 71.042, the second-highest reading since August.
