| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 01:30 | Australia | Unemployment rate | August | 4.2% | 4.2% | 4.2% |
| 01:30 | Australia | Changing the number of employed | August | 48.9 | 25 | 47.5 |
During today's Asian trading, the US dollar rose against major currencies, retreating from the 14-month low reached yesterday after the announcement of the results of the Fed meeting.
The US Dollar Currency Index (DXY), which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona) rose by 0.1% to 100.70. Yesterday, the Fed cut the interest rate by 0.5%, saying that such a move demonstrates the commitment of policymakers to keep unemployment low. Markets reacted in a typical "buy the rumor, sell the fact" fashion that kept the dollar on the front foot today. In addition to this reduction, the FOMC indicated through its “dot plot” the equivalent of 50 more basis points of cuts by the end of the year. In all, the dot plot shows the benchmark rate coming down about 2% beyond Wednesday’s move. The FOMC expects the long-run neutral rate to be around 2.9%.
The pound rose 0.25% against the US dollar after briefly hitting its highest level since March 2022 yesterday. Today, investors' attention will be focused on the Bank of England's interest rate decision, which will be announced at 11:00 GMT. Although the Central Bank decided to cut the rate by 25 basis points at its meeting in August, policymakers also indicated a desire to take a cautious approach to further rate cuts. Economists expect that this somewhat cautious approach will be reflected in today's decision, and the Central Bank will leave the rate at 5.00%. Although the monthly GDP data for July was a little disappointing, more encouraging signals from other economic indicators, such as the continued growth in business activity indices in industry and services, suggest that the UK economic recovery may continue. Thus, the Bank of England's policymakers are likely to take a balanced approach to easing monetary policy until the end of 2024, and cut the rate once more by 0.25%, to 4.75%. But if we see a further and ongoing slowdown in price pressures and/or other signs that the UK economic recovery may slow down more significantly, this could tilt the risks towards a slightly faster pace of policy easing by the end of this year, possibly through a 0.25% rate cuts at the Bank of England meetings in November and December.