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Bank of England Interest Rate Announcements and the Foreign Exchange Market

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Author Info
Michael Melvin ()
Christian Saborowski ()
Michael Sager ()
Mark P. Taylor ()

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Abstract

Since 1997, the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has met monthly to set the UK policy interest rate. We examine evidence of systematic patterns in exchange rate movements on MPC days over the first decade of operation of the MPC. Daily data reveal significant differences in volatility on the last of three meeting days when the interest rate announcement surprises the market. Intraday, five-minute return data are then used to provide a microscopic view. We use a Markov-switching framework that incorporates endogenous transition probabilities, which allows for an interesting alternative characterization of macroeconomic news effects on the foreign exchange market. We find evidence for non-linear regime switching between a high-volatility, informed-trading state and a low-volatility, liquidity-trading state. MPC surprise announcements are shown significantly to affect the probability that the market enters and remains within the informed trading regime, with some limited market positioning just prior to the announcement.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by CESifo Group Munich in its series CESifo Working Paper Series with number CESifo Working Paper No. 2613.

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Date of creation: 2009
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Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2613

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Related research
Keywords: foreign exchange market; microstructure; monetary policy announcements; Markov switching; endogenous probabilities;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

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    Other versions:
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    Other versions:
  5. Jon Faust & John H. Rogers & Eric Swanson & Jonathan H. Wright, 2003. "Identifying the Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks on Exchange Rates Using High Frequency Data," NBER Working Papers 9660, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Michael Ehrmann & Marcel Fratzscher, 2007. "Communication by Central Bank Committee Members: Different Strategies, Same Effectiveness?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(2-3), pages 509-541, 03. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Menkhoff, Lukas & Taylor, Mark P., 2006. "The Obstinate Passion of Foreign Exchange Professionals : Technical Analysis," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 769, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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