Summary:

• Swiss National Bank is expected to leave rates unchanged

• Norges Bank will make its first decision after lowering inflation target

• Semi-important data from the US scheduled for release in the afternoon

Taking a look at the Thursday’s economic calendar one can see that we have some interesting readings and events planned for today. In the morning Swiss National Bank will announce its interest rate decision. Half an hour later Norges Bank will do the same. Keep in mind that this will be the first Norges Bank’s decision after lowering inflation target. In the afternoon some semi-important data from the US will be published including initial jobless claims report.

8:30 am BST – SNB Interest Rate Decision. Swiss National Bank has kept its interest rate level in the negative area for over three years now. Yet Swiss central bankers still do not have many arguments to justify potential hike. The CPI inflation in February reached 0.7% YoY what is way below the Bank’s target of 2%. However, in its latest projection SNB signalled that the inflation rate will meet its target in 2020 thus investors may want to look out for the changes in the bankers’ attitude. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect that the main deposit rate will be left unchanged at -0.75%.

9:30 am BST – Norges Bank Interest Rate Decision. Two years has passed since the Norges Bank made last change to the level of interest rates. The condition of Norway’s labour market as well as particular economy sectors is decent what was proved by recent readings. However, the manufacturing production shrinked a little at the beginning of the year. The inflation managed to reach its target of 2% in February by turning to be 2.2% yet we should remember that Norges Bank has recently lowered its inflation target from 2.5% to 2%. Market consensus expects that the deposit interest rate will be left unchanged at 0.5%.

12:30 pm BST – US, Initial Jobless Claims. The NFP report released on Friday has proved that the condition of the US labour market is still solid as it showed the biggest increase in the number of jobs created since mid-2015. This also seems to be proved by the initial jobless claims readings as they have shown a constant decrease in the number of people filling for unemployed insurance since the financial crisis. This time market consensus points for a reading of 228k against prior 231k.

12:30 pm BST – US, Empire Manufacturing Index for March. The surveys conducted among 200 manufacturers from the state of New York has shown that the business conditions there are improving. However, it is worth to highlight that since peaking in October at 30.2 pts the conditions deteriorated somewhat and the gauge slipped to 13.1 pts in February. In March economists surveyed by Bloomberg point for a reading of 15 pts indicating a little upside against prior month.

Central bank speakers scheduled for today:

3:45 pm BST – ECB’s Lautenschlaeger

10:45 pm BST – RBA’s Debelle

After failing to breach the resistance level at 8.03 USDNOK reversed towards support at 7.715. Will Norges Bank cause the pair to break below? Source: xStaiton5