US dollar
Bank of Israel announces major increase in FX interventions
Central bank announces FX spend in advance for first time and pledges 40% increase
Book notes: The currency cold war, by David Birch
Pleasant and interesting read on whether digital money will jeopardise the US dollar’s dominant role in global trade and finance
US Fed facility bought Libor bonds with ‘weak’ fallbacks
Industry figures express surprise over purchases linked to doomed benchmark
Bank of Lithuania paper explores spillovers of US policy uncertainty
Authors find “significant recessionary and deflationary effect” and synchronous response worldwide
Bank of Israel increases FX interventions to tame shekel
Central bank’s foreign reserves reach new record level
Argentinian central bank puts cap on imported luxury goods
BCRA bids to preserve foreign currency as international reserves decline to $39.4 billion
Turkish central bank led global gold sales in November
WGC says higher local demand boosted gold trading between banks and CBRT
SNB still ready to depreciate franc despite US condemnation
Swiss central bank stands firm after US Treasury labelled Switzerland a currency manipulator
Fed’s dollar swap lines and ‘Fima’ facility to run nine more months
FOMC keeps main policy tools on hold, but shifts guidance on asset purchases
Whither the age of ‘magic money’?
EME central banks are more exposed to changes in geopolitics, climate, demography, technology and inflation at a time when monetary theory is running well behind central bank practice
New Isda ‘fallbacks’ critical to making Libor transition a ‘non-event’
New protocol and supplement offer a transition away from Libor rates in 2021, despite CFTC saying 2,400 companies still exposed and Fed extending some US libor contracts until mid-2023
Colombia draws on IMF’s FCL funds for first time
Government resorted to $5.4 billion drawing to help meet higher pandemic financing needs
Powell, Lagarde and Bailey express caution on CBDCs
Jay Powell says Fed must get any future CBDC right, rather than “being the first”
Asia issues the most banknotes by volume and value
Asian central banks issue 62.3 banknotes worth $1,852 per person
Dollar funding drives global house price movements – BIS paper
Non-US banks often depend heavily on dollar funding to issue mortgages, authors show
BIS could play renewed role amid Covid crisis, scholar says
Fed’s role in dealing with Covid-19’s international effects has parallels with 1960s, historian argues
Central banks become net gold sellers for first time in 10 years
Sales by gold producers Turkey and Uzbekistan lead decline in global holdings
Maggiori, Neiman and Schreger on capital flows and Covid-19
The Global Capital Allocation Project sheds light on where vulnerabilities may lie
Global dollar liquidity ‘robust’ in face of Covid-19 – BIS data
Dollar credit to emerging markets passes $4 trillion mark as lending to non-banks rises
Quarles: policy-makers have ‘work to do’ on non-bank fragilities
FSB chair outlines areas where non-banks may have amplified the Covid-19 shock
Fed mulls action on short-term funding markets
Randal Quarles says it is “disappointing” that the Covid-19 crisis carried echoes of 2008
Marshall Islands readies to make waves in digital currency
Island nation ready to issue blockchain-based national currency if its new government gives the go-ahead, chairman of foundation says
Argentine peso falls after central bank changes regime
Spread with unofficial exchange rate widens further
BoK launches facility to guard against dollar liquidity squeeze
South Korean central bank creates new facility to cut risk of dollar liquidity crisis, after extending Fed swap line