Another hugely important weekend

It’s been another lively start to the week following a busy weekend in which Swiss authorities have been working tirelessly to complete the sale of Credit Suisse and avoid further fallout on the open.

So far it looks as though those efforts have not been in vain, along with those of a selection of major central banks to ensure access to dollar funding continues. This is now the second weekend that central banks, governments, and regulators have spent putting out fires, and, while markets are recovering today, I’m not sure anyone is confident that all flames have been extinguished.

That said, the speed and decisiveness with which authorities have acted over the last couple of weeks will be providing some reassurance amid all of the uncertainty. There really is no time to waste in these situations and while there will be time to assess what could have been handled better in the future, the important thing now is that investors can move on, even if to determine where the next vulnerability lies.

What this episode has done is force central banks and investors to question whether the previous path for interest rates is still warranted. The pace at which interest rates have risen around the world was always likely to cause problems and central banks must now evaluate whether the costs still outweigh the benefits.

They may well decide that they have the tools available to address financial stability concerns that don’t interfere with their price stability mandate and, as the ECB did, stay the course. But then, the Fed was much closer to the terminal rate than the ECB and may have more room to maneuver as a result.

Either way, their jobs have just become that much more difficult and the risks of every policy move greater. Given the lags of monetary policy, the final stages were always likely to be the most painful and the next few months could very much see that prove to be true. At the very least, investors will be on high alert for further signs of turbulence.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar: www.marketpulse.com/economic-events/

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Former Craig

Former Craig

Former Senior Market Analyst, UK & EMEA at OANDA
Based in London, Craig Erlam joined OANDA in 2015 as a market analyst. With many years of experience as a financial market analyst and trader, he focuses on both fundamental and technical analysis while producing macroeconomic commentary. His views have been published in the Financial Times, Reuters, The Telegraph and the International Business Times, and he also appears as a regular guest commentator on the BBC, Bloomberg TV, FOX Business and SKY News. Craig holds a full membership to the Society of Technical Analysts and is recognised as a Certified Financial Technician by the International Federation of Technical Analysts.