US Core CPI Experienced Historical Decline in April

May 13th, from WikiFX news. US overnight core CPI in April experienced the sharpest month-on-month decline in history, falling 0.8% after seasonal adjustment to a record low since November, 2008, while core CPI shrank 0.4% annually.

Facing the recession caused by the pandemic, US Federal Reserve lowered benchmark interest rate to nearly zero on March 15th, while multiple Fed policymakers noted that the Fed will take all necessary measures to alleviate economic impact of the massive lockdown measures.

Fund managers and economists observe theres little chance the Fed will reduce rate to the negative range, as under negative rate, financial institutions must pay the central bank interest rate on excess reserves - the capital reserves held by the bank or financial institution in excess of what is required by regulators.

In that way, the central bank can push cash-holding institutions into increasing corporate and consumer loans.

The European Central Bank (ECB) introduced negative interest rates earlier in June, 2014, reducing the deposit interest rate to -0.1% to revive economy. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) implemented negative interest rates in January, 2016, mainly to prevent the yen ‘s unpopular appreciation from damaging the country’s export-dependent economy.