The Fed has consistently spoken of the need to “normalize “rates, that is to get the real rate of interest into positive territory; in addition, the Fed has signaled that it wants to shed its bloated balance sheet of government and agency debt;

The European Central Bank ‘s President Mario Draghi delivered a somewhat bullish statement of the EU’s growth prospects, saying that “reflationary pressures” have replaced deflationary ones of the recent past; investors bid up the Euro as talk of tapering of the ECB’s huge balance sheet is being reported widely in the financial press;

The Bank of Canada’s Governor Poloz stated that the emergency rate cuts issued in response to the collapse of the oil prices “have done their job”; immediately, analysts priced in a higher probability that the bank rate will be boosted at the upcoming meeting in mid-July;

The Bank of England is struggling with a weakening pound and great uncertainty about the outcome of the Brexit negotiations; yet, some investors detect that the BoE will soon move in the direction of tightening; and,

The Bank of Japan is facing an unheard of condition of full employment (along with selected labour shortages) with virtually zero inflation, if not outright deflation; none expect the BoJ to change policy in any foreseeable future.