| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02:00 | China | Retail Sales y/y | 8% | 0.8% | -20.5% | |
| 02:00 | China | Industrial Production y/y | 6.9% | 1.5% | -13.5% | |
| 02:00 | China | Fixed Asset Investment | 5.4% | 2.8% | -24.5% | |
| 07:30 | Switzerland | Producer & Import Prices, y/y | February | -1% | -2.1% |
During today's Asian trading, the US dollar fell against the major world currencies after the decision of the US Federal reserve to urgently lower the rate.
The Fed on Monday night urgently lowered its benchmark interest rate to zero and announced the launch of a large-scale quantitative easing program to stabilize financial markets and support the us economy.
The Fed lowered the interest rate on federal loans by 1% to 0-0. 25%, announcing plans for additional purchases of government bonds worth $500 billion and mortgage-backed securities worth $ 200 billion, as well as additional measures to provide liquidity to commercial banks. The fed called on banks to increase lending from existing reserves.
The Fed said it is ready to use "the full range of tools available to it to support the availability of credit for households and businesses."
The Bank of Japan, following the Fed, announced an increase in stimulus measures in response to the pandemic. The Bank of Japan did not change the key parameters of monetary policy. The interest rate on deposits of commercial banks remained at the level of -0.1% per annum, the target yield of ten-year government bonds of Japan-about zero (+/-0.2 percentage points).
The Bank of Japan has doubled its exchange - traded index Fund (EFT) buyback program to 12 trillion yen ($112 billion), and announced its intention to adjust its corporate bond buyback program.
The ICE Dollar index, which shows the value of the us dollar against six major world currencies, fell by 0.60% compared to the previous day.