central-banks

UBS leads team of banks working on blockchain settlement system

By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) – Swiss bank UBS is leading a team of four of the world's biggest banks developing a system to enable financial markets to make payments and settle transactions quickly using blockchain technology. UBS has developed a “Utility Settlement Coin” (USC), which is a digital cash equivalent of each of the major currencies backed by central banks, such as the dollar or euro, rather than a decentralized new digital currency such as bitcoin. The USC would be convertible at parity with a…

Here is the original post:
UBS leads team of banks working on blockchain settlement system

central-banks

Growth snapshots ahead in world awash with cheap money

By Jonathan Cable LONDON (Reuters) – Bumper July jobs data from the United States have again begun to stoke expectations of a September rate hike from the Federal Reserve, just when other major central banks around the globe are unleashing ever-looser policy. New Zealand's central bank is also expected to join the easing brigade with a cut on Thursday. Slow growth and virtually non-existent euro zone inflation will also force the European Central Bank to extend and expand…

See more here: 
Growth snapshots ahead in world awash with cheap money

central-banks

U.S. crude remains below $40 as oversupply weighs

Oil prices remained weak on Wednesday, with U.S. crude below $40 per barrel and Brent under $42, as fuel oversupply and stuttering economic growth weighed on markets, although prices did receive some support from a weaker dollar. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $39.54 per barrel at 0651 GMT (2:51 a.m. ET), slightly above their last close and well below the $40 marker they settled below for the first time since April in the previous session. International Brent crude futures failed to …

Read more from the original source: 
U.S. crude remains below $40 as oversupply weighs

central-banks

The ‘what if’ spooking markets: policy success

Perhaps the biggest shock to world markets now would be if central banks met their inflation goals. After nearly 10 years of near zero or even negative interest rates and trillions of dollars in new

Here is the original:
The ‘what if’ spooking markets: policy success

central-banks

Asia’s factories stay sluggish, stimulus lacks traction

Japanese manufacturing activity shrank in April at the fastest pace in more than three years as deadly earthquakes disrupted production, while output in China and the rest of Asia remained lukewarm at best. “The backdrop remains one of sub-trend growth, inflation that is below target, difficulty …

View post:
Asia’s factories stay sluggish, stimulus lacks traction

central-banks

IMF supports move to negative rates by some central banks

The International Monetary Fund said on Sunday that a move to negative rates by some of the world's central banks would help deliver extra monetary stimulus and ease lending conditions. Six of the world's central banks have introduced negative rates, most notably the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank, and around a quarter of the world economy by output is now experiencing official rates that are less than zero.

Read more:
IMF supports move to negative rates by some central banks