Market Information Thursday 17 October 2019

According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the number of people with paid work increased by an average of 8,000 a month in the past quarter. At the end of September, the number of people with paid work was nine million. In addition, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits decreased to 233,000 in that period, 3,200 less than at the end of August. According to CBS this decrease is mainly due to the adjustment in the structure of the unemployment benefit rights and the shortening of the duration of these benefits.

The United States Department of Commerce announced this morning that the business inventory levels in the United States remained unchanged in August compared to a month earlier.

The president of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), Klaas Knot, again criticised the policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) in a speech in New York yesterday. The ECB has to reconsider its strategy and extensive research will be needed into the effectiveness of the ECB’s stimulus measures, according to Klaas Knot. One possible nuance could be the introduction of a flexible bandwidth with regard to the inflation target of 2.0%.

The 6M Euribor decreased with 1 basis point to -0.36% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap increased with 3 basis points to 0.03% compared to previous business day.

In the attachment, today’s market data on money and capital market rates as well as other rates are presented.