Swiss National Bank holds interest rate steady. Swiss trade balance beats forecast, Franc mixed in Fx Trade. | CountingPips Forex Blog

September 18, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Swiss National Bank holds interest rate steady. Swiss trade balance beats forecast, Franc mixed in Fx Trade.

The Swiss National Bank announced today its decision to keep its interest rate unchanged. The current Libor target range is 2.25-3.25 percent with the SNB aiming for the center of that range for a 2.75 percent rate. Citing a global economic slowdown, which "is now spreading to Europe" and the persistence in inflation, the SNB stated that the rate should be left steady "for the time being."

Swiss franc mixed in forex trading. The statement explained the bank's view of the Swiss economy, saying that, "Developments in the Swiss economy are in line with the SNB’s expectations. During the first half of the current year, the growth rate dropped back, after having reached 3.3% in 2007. The economy has remained relatively robust despite the deterioration in the world economy, but the slowdown is likely to continue over the months to come. The SNB is maintaining its June forecast of real GDP growth between 1.5% and 2% for 2008."

The rate hold was widely forecasted by economists as the SNB has held the rate unchanged for the fourth straight quarter.

Swiss trade surplus narrows.

A separate report out of Switzerland showed that the August Swiss international trade in goods and services fell when compared to July but managed to beat economic forecasts. The Swiss trade balance showed a trade surplus of 1.43 billion francs in August following a revised surplus of 2.29 billion francs in July. Economic forecasts had expected a surplus for August of approximately 1.03 billion francs. Contributing to the decreased surplus for August was a decline in exports by 5.4 percent. Swiss imports for the month also showed a decline by 3.9 percent.

Swiss franc mixed in forex trading.

The Swiss franc has been mixed today in forex trading against the major currencies and has not made any significant gains or losses since the beginning of the day. The franc, in the US afternoon trading session, is virtually unchanged against the US dollar from today's opening as the USD/CHF trades at 1.0991. The franc has lost ground to the European euro today as the EUR/CHF trades at 1.5815 and about a 35 pip loss for the franc. Against the British pound and the Japanese yen, the franc is also virtually unchanged from today's opening with the GBP/CHF trading at 2.0006 and the CHF/JPY trading at 95.25.

EUR/CHF Chart - The Swiss franc falls vs. the Euro today in forex trading. The Swiss National Bank held its interest rate steady for the 4th straight quarter(Hourly Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: swiss interest rate, trade balance, swiss franc, chf

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