Economic calendar (GMT0):
01:30 Australia RBA Bulletin Quarter II
04:30 Japan All Industry Activity Index, m/m April +1.5% -3.7% -4,3%
04:30 Switzerland SNB Financial Stability Report 2014
07:30 Switzerland SNB Interest Rate Decision 0.25% 0.25% 0.25%
07:30 Switzerland SNB Monetary Policy Assessment
07:30 Switzerland SNB Press Conference
08:30 United Kingdom Retail Sales (MoM) May +1.3% -0.5% -0.5%
08:30 United Kingdom Retail Sales (YoY) May +6.9% +4.2% +3.9%
09:00 Eurozone Eurogroup Meetings
10:00 United Kingdom CBI industrial order books balance June 0 3 11
The U.S. dollar traded lower against the most major currencies. The Fed's interest decision on Wednesday still weighed on the U.S. currency. The Fed cut its monthly asset purchases by another $10 billion to $35 billion and kept the Federal Funds Target Rate between zero and 0.25 percent. Market participants had expected this decision. The Fed pointed out that interest rates will remain unchanged for a considerable time after the Fed's asset purchase program ends.
Investors had awaited Fed Chair Janet Yellen gave some hints when the Fed will start to rise its interest rate, but it didn't happen. Investors were disappointed. The U.S. currency suffered due to this disappointment by investors.
The number of initial jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index will be released later in the day. The number of initial jobless claims should decline by 1,000 to 316,000. The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index should decline to 14.3 in June from 15.4 in May.
The euro traded higher against the U.S. dollar in the absence of any major economic reports in the Eurozone.
The British pound climbed against the U.S. dollar after the U.K. economic data. The U.K. retail sales dropped 0.5% in May, in line with forecasts, after a 1.3% gain in April. That was the first drop since January.
On a yearly basis, retail sales in the U.K. climbed 3.9% in May, missing expectations for a 4.2% increase, after a 6.9% gain in April.
The Confederation of British Industry released its industrial order books balance. The CBI industrial order books balance increased to 11% in June from 0% in May, exceeding expectations for a climb to 3%.
The Swiss franc increased against the U.S. dollar. The SNB kept unchanged its interest rate close to zero and reaffirmed its commitment to the minimum exchange rate of CHF1.20 per euro as expected by analysts. The SNB said the central bank will monitor the impact of the ECB's interest rate cut on Switzerland and the SNB will take the necessary measures if required.
EUR/USD: the currency pair increased to $1.3643
GBP/USD: the currency pair rose to $1.7033
USD/JPY: the currency pair fell to Y101.73
The most important news that are expected (GMT0):
12:30 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims June 317 316
14:00 U.S. Leading Indicators May +0.4% +0.6%
14:00 U.S. Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey June 15.4 14.3