European Economic News Preview: BoE, SNB Policy Announcements Due
(RTTNews) - The monetary policy announcements from the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank are the top events due on Thursday.
The BoE is likely to sit tight on rates today as inflation remains sticky. The nine-member policy committee is widely seen holding the rate at 4.50 percent in a split vote. The decision is due at 8.00 AM ET.
The SNB is widely expected to lower the interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.25 percent. But today's rate is likely to be the last in the current easing cycle as the currency has weakened notably over the last few months. The SNB announces the decision at 4.30 AM ET.
Other major economic reports due for the day are unemployment from the UK and producer prices from Germany.
At 3.00 am ET, the Office for National Statistics releases UK labor market statistics. The jobless rate is seen at 4.4 percent in three months to January, unchanged from the preceding period.
Also, producer prices data from Germany is due. Economists expect prices to grow 1.0 percent on a yearly basis in February, following a 0.5 percent rise in January.
In the meantime, foreign trade data is due from Switzerland.
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