![]() ![]() ![]() Thereafter, the US Dollar recovered some momentum, ending the day far from the bottom and with positive momentum. Initially, markets cheered the decision and the statement, but later some comments from US Treasury Secretary Yellen weighed on stocks. ![]() In the projections, the median 2023 rate is seen between 5.00% and 5.25%, suggesting just one more hike before a pause. The statement signaled that the end of the current tightening cycle is near. European yields moved to the upside after the comments, supporting the Euro that outperformed on Wednesday.Īs expected, the Federal Reserve raised its interest rate by 25 bps at the March meeting. Overall, if the outlook improves, more rate hikes seem likely. Fellow member Ignazio Visco warned that credit growth in Europe has slowed, adding the important issue now is to avoid a credit crunch. Governing Council member, Pierre Wunsch, argued that if markets stabilize, they have to do more. Volatile market conditions are still in place and there is more to come with more central banks decisions on Thursday and PMIs on Friday.Įuropean Central Bank (ECB) President, Christine Lagarde, mentioned early on Wednesday that underlying inflation dynamics remain strong and that they are neither committed to raise interest rates further nor finished with hiking. The pair continues to move with a bullish tone, but some exhaustion signs emerged amid a US dollar recovery. The bottom line: Internet censorship by government or military forces is one of the clearest signals that democracy is being tested.On Fed’s monetary decision day, the EUR/USD reached levels above 1.0900 and then pulled back. Yes, but: As with so-called “fake news” laws, such restrictions are often motivated by a desire to control the narrative and prevent inconvenient information from proliferating. Then there are countries like China where the internet is highly censored to begin with.Turkey temporarily blocked access to several social media platforms last February amid reports that dozens of Turkish troops had been killed in an airstrike in Syria.It has still not been fully restored.īetween the lines: Authorities often cite a desire to stop the spread of disinformation when implementing internet shutdowns, as in Sri Lanka in 2019 following deadly bombings. The government shut off the internet in August 2019 as it anticipated unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir once highly sensitive constitutional changes were announced. India has disrupted the internet both in response to protests and as a pre-emptive tactic.Ethiopia has repeatedly done so so during mass protests, and the government blocked internet and telecom access in the Tigray region ahead of a military offensive there last November - severely impacting the availability of reliable information about the conflict.Iran and Venezuela are particularly quick to restrict access, according to Netblocks’ data.Flashback: In 2019, Myanmar imposed what Human Rights Watch has described as “the world’s longest internet shutdown” in the conflict-ridden Rakhine and Chin states.īetween the lines: The internet was created to democratize information, but it's now one of the most powerful weapons autocrats use to silence dissenters and maintain power.Internet disruptions began at around 3am local time, according to Netblocks, and connectivity had by 8am dropped by 50% before being “partially restored” by the afternoon.But they also appeared to follow the more modern playbook. Neighboring Belarus also disrupted the internet during recent protests, as have countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe.ĭriving the news: Myanmar’s military followed the tried and true rule of coup plotters everywhere by ensuring they were in control of state TV before making their move on Monday. Netblocks also reported disruptions in Russian cities during recent protests over the detention of Alexey Navalny.Blockages are particularly common around elections in Africa, most recently in Uganda.Authorities have used the outages to reduce or prevent unrest - or to hide it from public view. The big picture: At least 35 countries have restricted access to the internet or social media platforms at least once since 2019, according to Netblocks, a group which tracks internet freedom. ![]()
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