How low can you go?

Strolling towards Lower Thames Street yesterday evening, the Evening Standard ‘sales placards' were shouting – "Interest rates To Go To 0%". Now you really needed to buy the paper to see what the article said but as I was on my way out, I couldn't. Going back a few hours, Mervyn King, fronting the BoE at their release of the Quarterly Inflation Report, made it very clear that the Bank views the risks in the economy at present to be growth or rather the lack of it. He stated that inflation next year would fall to 1% with a possibility of it actually going negative in the 12-18 month timespan. This meant that interest rates would be cut further and sooner rather than later. HSBC this morning are calling for a 50bp cut at each of the next 4 MPC meetings. Personally, I think that is too much. I can see real interest rates being cut to zero but with core inflation still sitting at a tad above 2% and not really moving, I feel a further 100bp cut would be ample.

Partnership delivers real solutions to critical trading issues

Vhayu and StreamBase today announced that the technology partnership between their firms to enable the testing and deployment of trading strategies has resulted in success for their shared customer, RBC Capital Markets, which now benefits from the integration of the products... 

The Bank of Japan today cut interest rates for the first time in seven years, in its first demonstration of support for rate-cutting measures taken by other central banks in response to the global financial crisis. In a move some criticized as half-hearted, the bank cut the key interest rate from 0.5% to 0.3%..

Trayport Limited, a GFI Group company and leading provider of multi-asset class electronic trading solutions, today announced it is working with 3i Infotech to integrate its risk management solutions into Trayports GlobalVision electronic trading platform.

Neptune Software and its partner Horus Development Finance today announced that Advans Ghana has gone live with Neptunes Orbit solution, with a limited involvement of Neptune (2 weeks on site) - proof that a Microfinance Operator can master Orbit on its own.

Two of France's leading banks were forced to deny that they needed emergency funding yesterday as the Government expanded the terms of its €360 billion (282billion pounds) rescue plan. After sharp falls in their share prices, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole issued formal rebuttals after speculation arose that they were preparing to tap the facility. 

SR Labs, a leading provider of high-speed electronic trading solutions, announced that it has added Chi-X Europe Ltd to its list of certified trading venues. SR Labs enables connectivity to Chi-X Europe through its Low Latency Order Management System (LOMS) and market data access to Chi-X Europes CHIX market data feed via the SR Market Data Solution (SMDS).

ACM, Advanced Currency Markets, Chief Market Analyst Peter Rosenstreich on the positive effect of the financial crisis on FX. When asked about the effect of the current financial crisis on currency markets, ACM Chief Market Analyst sounded very positive.

The bank adds more cheque processing hubs that allow trade payments to be cleared in the Asian time zone. Deutsche Bank is expanding its cash management services in Asia as part of efforts to capitalise on trade flows in the region. The bank has established three new global cheque processing hubs in Singapore, Jakarta and Tokyo, bringing the total to nine in the region.

Fixnetix, a leading provider of ultra-low latency market data, has announced that BATS Holdings' European Markets division has selected Fixnetix's sub-millisecond real-time data feed technology to source equities pricing for its pan-European multilateral trading facility set to launch late October/early November.