Ahead of Wednesday’s FOMC decision, the watchword among central bank watchers has been “continuity”. Anyone expecting Kevin Warsh, the newly appointed Fed chair, to shake things up at his first meeting in charge will likely be disappointed.

Federal Reserve policymakers are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at the conclusion of their two-day meeting, with the fed funds target range currently at 3.50%-3.75%. The decision is expected to be unanimous.

Analysts look for the accompanying statement to acknowledge continued labour market resilience, while also recognising elevated inflationary pressures.

JP Morgan economist Michael Feroli said these developments could push the committee in a more hawkish direction. (LiveSquawk – Continue Reading)

Swiss central bankers are widely expected to keep key interest rates at current levels Thursday, a policy they are likely to maintain for the rest of the year, according to analysts.

An economists’ poll predicted an unchanged Swiss National Bank policy rate of zero percent, with a hold this month mirroring decisions in September, December, and March, which followed six straight cuts.

A decision to leave the benchmark rate at its current level would also come on the tails of last week’s change in the neighboring euro area: blaming surging inflation from the Iran war, the European Central Bank raised its key interest rates by 25 basis points in a move that was widely expected. (LiveSquawk – Continue Reading)

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington could reinstate sanctions on Russian oil as part of a renewed pressure campaign against the Kremlin by the G7 leading economies.

The U.S. had suspended sanctions on Russian oil to try to bring down global energy prices that skyrocketed as a result of its war with Iran, but oil prices dropped after the two sides agreed to a truce over the weekend.

“We took sanctions off because obviously we're not looking to impede the oil. But we're in a position to do that soon,” Trump told reporters as he met United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan on the sidelines of this year’s G7 leaders’ summit in Evian-les-Bains, France. (POLITICO – Continue Reading)

SpaceX jumped for a third straight day on Tuesday, putting it on track to overtake Amazon.com Inc. in value and briefly making it the world’s fourth largest stock ahead of Microsoft Corp.

Shares were up about 13% at 1:00 p.m. in New York, paring some of a gain that had reached as much as 17% earlier in the session. That puts its market value at almost $2.9 trillion, about $200 billion above Amazon’s. At its intraday high, the market value of Elon Musk’s rocket and AI company reached nearly $3 trillion. (Bloomberg – Continue Reading)