The euro trade in a narrow range

Good Morning,

- The euro trade in a narrow range, hovering near a one-week high of $1.2765 set on Tuesday with all eyes on FED later today…

- Asian stocks: Japan's Nikkei 1.46%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.28% (07:35 GMT), Korea's Kospi 1.84%, Australia's ASX 200 -0.05% and China's Shanghai 1.50%.

- The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday is expected to shutter its bond-buying program, closing one controversial chapter in its crisis response even as it struggles to manage a full return to normal monetary policy. The Fed is likely to announce at the end of a two-day meeting that it will no longer add to its holdings of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, halting the final $15 billion in monthly purchases under a program that at its peak pumped $85 billion a month into the financial system. An important symbolic step, the end of the purchases still leaves the Fed far from a normal posture.

- Consumer Confidence in U.S. increases to a seven-year high to 94.5 this month, the highest since October 2007, from a September reading of 89, that was stronger than initially estimated data showed yesterday.

- The Swiss National Bank’s credibility will suffer if voters back an initiative requiring it to hold at least 20% of its assets in gold, Governing Board Member Fritz Zurbruegg says in interview. “The SNB won’t be able to totally fulfill its legal mandate any more if it is accepted” Hopes voters will reject initiative. This is about the vote to be held in Switzerland on November 30 on the requiring it to hold at least 20% of its assets in gold & that would also block sale of any SNB gold holdings and require all SNB gold be located in Switzerland.

- The Russian ruble weakened to a record for the fifth day on concern Russia will quicken its move to a free float after more than $20 billion of interventions this month failed to halt the depreciation. Russians have been selling rubles and buying foreign currencies. A big part of which ends up overseas, beyond the reach of the Russian government. Capital flight may hit $120 billion in 2014, according to government estimates, and more according to others. But some of the foreign currency stays in Russia: bank deposits in euros and dollars have jumped 17% for the first eight months of this year.

- SocGen on USD: FX markets are in limbo, waiting to see how the volatility of recent weeks will affect growth and thereafter monetary policy, notes SocGen. "The ECB's AQR has been and gone, leaving participants wondering what to focus on," SocGen adds. "... It is unlikely we will be bursting major currency pairs out of ranges in the aftermath of the FOMC," SocGen projects. "We persist in thinking that when the dust settles, the US economy will have weathered the recent turmoil reasonably well, the main condition for the Fed to hold its course and raise rates in mid-2015," SoocGen adds. In line with this view, SocGen advises waiting on the sideline for now waiting for better levels to buy the USD .

- The Swedish crown trade calm today morning, after sliding to four-year lows on Tuesday, dented by a surprisingly dovish message from Sweden's central bank. The Riksbank cut interest rates more than expected to zero and said it would delay tightening policy until the middle of 2016 as it moved decisively to tackle the risk of deflation.

- Japan's plan to raise its sales tax for the second year in a row next year may not be positive for the country's credit rating if it snuffs out any chance of economic recovery, a senior official of Standard & Poor's said. If the government were to delay next year's tax increase, it would still need to cut welfare spending and push through structural reforms to accelerate economic growth, Takahira Ogawa, director of sovereign ratings at the agency, said. The chance of a downgrade has receded since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in 2012 with bold plans to end deflation, but the credit outlook is still negative due to uncertainties about how to fix the budget deficit and get the economy to grow, he said.

- Watch today: UK money supply, US loans, FOMC meeting.

Have a nice Day !