Swiss National Bank
While Awaiting Several U.S. Data Releases, Investors Hear Range of Fed Official Comments
September 25, 2025
Thursday’s menu of U.S. data reports includes revised GDP and PCE price deflator, existing home sales, durable goods orders, an early bird estimate of the U.S. merchandise trade deficit, the Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey, and weekly jobless insurance claims. The wide range of views depicted in the FOMC dot-plot diagram of favored interest rates […] More
Swiss Interest Rate Cut to Zero Percent
June 19, 2025
The Swiss National Bank policy interest rate as expected was sliced 25 basis points to zero percent, its lowest level since September 2022 and down from a peak of 1.75% reached in June 2023 and maintained until an initial cut in March 2024. Swiss consumer price inflation turned negative (-0.1%) in May for the first […] More
A U.S. Holiday and Many Central Bank Policy Reviews
June 19, 2025
In spite of the current U.S. govenment’s crusade against DEI, June 19 remains a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in 1865. Banks, the U.S. stock exchanges and non-essential federal offices are shut. In overnight trading abroad, the dollar rose 0.8% against the kiwi, 0.5% versus the Australian dollar, and 0.4% relative to the […] More
A Central Bank Interest Rate Hike in Uzbekistan but a Cut in Switzerland
March 20, 2025
Uzbekistan is a different case altogether, and its circumstances call for progressive tightening. Officials at the Central Bank of Uzbekistan today raised their policy rate by half a percentage point back to 14.0%, matching a level that prevailed from March 2024 to July 2024 and before that from September 2020 to March 2022. CPI inflation […] More
Central Bank Roll Call
March 20, 2025
The immediate sigh of relief by market participants — expressed in higher share prices and a retreat of the 10-year Treasury yield — to yesterday’s Federal Reserve show quickly wore off during overnight hours. Less emphasis has been attached to the unchanged Fed signal of likely two interest rate cuts later this year and to […] More
Rate Cuts in Euroland and Switzerland
December 12, 2024
A 25-basis point cut in Euroland’s key interest rates including the deposit rate to 3.0% had been widely expected by investors. The European Central Bank statement includes updated macroeconomic forecasts that lower projected GDP growth to 0.7% this year and 1.1% next year as well as total projected CPI inflation to 2.4% in 2024 and […] More
Divergent Interest Rate Decisions, Geopolitical Concerns, and Higher U.S. PPI Inflation Than Forecast
December 12, 2024
Central bank interest rates have been hiked by 100 basis points in Brazil and 50 bps in Ukraine but were also cut today by 50 bps in Switzerland and 25 bps in Euroland. The threats of coming tariff hikes and other sharp diversions in long-established U.S. policies have other economies around the world on edge. […] More
Switzerland’s Third Interest Rate Cut since March
September 26, 2024
The Swiss National Bank today announced a policy rate reduction of 25 basis points to 1.0% that follows similar-sized cuts in June and March. The SNB only reviews policy on a quarterly basis. At 1.0%, the new policy rate level drops to its lowest level since March 2023. As before, officials used this opportunity to […] More
Reaction to Promised Chinese Stimulus Lifts Confidence in Other Markets
September 26, 2024
Equity markets around the Pacific Rim enjoyed a powerful rally Thursday, closing up 4.2% in Hong Kong, 3.6% in China, 2.9% in South Korea, 2.8% in India and Japan, 2.1% in New Zealand and 1.0% in Australia. The upward momentum carried into Europe where the German, French, Italian and Spanish stock markets current show gains […] More
A Second Interest Rate Cut in Switzerland
June 20, 2024
The Swiss National Bank’s quarterly review of policy resulted in an as-expected 25-basis point cut in the bank’s interest rate benchmark to 1.25% following an initial reduction also of 25 bps at the prior review in March. A released statement revised down projected CPI inflation from the second quarter of next year through the outermost […] More
