Bank of England, ECB hold interest rates steady. Australian trade deficit shrinks.

January 10, 2008 - Forex Economic News

The Bank of England announced the decision to keep its interest rate at 5.5 percent today. The BOE had reduced its interest rate in December by .25 percent citing a slowdown in economic growth, tightening credit lending and deteriorating financial markets. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank also left its interest rate unchanged at 4.0 percent today. The ECB has kept its interest rate steady after a raise of .25 percent in June of 2007. The ECB Governing Council also left the deposit rate steady at 3 percent and the marginal lending rate unchanged at 5 percent today. ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet will speak on the ECB monetary policy decision later today.

Australian trade deficit shrinks.

The Australian trade balance for November showed a smaller deficit than October in data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australia's trade balance for November was a seasonally adjusted -A$2.254 billion changed by A$609 million from -A$2.863 billion in October. Helping to decrease the deficit was a 6 percent rise in exports of goods and services. Non-rural and other goods exports increased by 8 percent while rural goods exports gained by 5 percent.

Tags: Australian Trade Balance, BOE interest rate, ECB interest rate--- Blog index