Summary

The Bank of England and Swiss National Bank both make monetary policy announcements tomorrow, March 23.

Our base case is for the Bank of England to raise its policy rate 25 basis points to 4.25% this week, and then pause tightening. However, an unexpected quickening of inflation has added some uncertainty to that outlook. In the absence of a closer, or finely balanced, vote in favor of a rate hike, or a softening in the Bank of England's language, we will be inclined to adjust our outlook towards further tightening, an adjustment that could also be positive for the pound.

In Switzerland, growth appears to be bottoming out and there has been an uptick in inflation. While Swiss markets have been dominated by banking sector strains over the past week, with some sense of relative calm restored and after the European Central Bank's rate hike last week, we still expect the Swiss National Bank to raise its policy rate by 50 basis points to 1.50% at this week's announcement. 

Bank of England to hike, but will they signal more to come?

The Bank of England (BoE) announces its monetary policy decision on March 23, with market participants focused on both the size of any potential rate hike and any signals of potential future rate hikes. Our base case has been for the Bank of England to hike its policy rate by 25 basis points to 4.25% at this week, a view with which we are still comfortable. In recent days, as banking sector strains in the U.S. and Switzerland led to unsettled global markets, market discussion has centered on whether the Bank of England could even pause at this week's meeting. However, with those strains alleviated to a modest extent, further tightening now seems very likely at this week's meeting.

A more interesting question, in our view, is whether there will be any further tightening beyond this week's meeting. Our base case has been that this week's rate increase will be the last of the current cycle. The Bank of England's economic projections, which forecast a moderate U.K. recession and below-target inflation over the medium-term, are consistent with a pause from the Bank of England after this week. In our view, some key policymakers have also been quite balanced in their comments and are looking for opportunities to pivot towards a pause. For example, Governor Bailey recently said in early March, “I would caution against suggesting either that we are done with increasing Bank Rate, or that we will inevitably need to do more”.

A moderate slowing in inflation over the last few months had opened the door slightly ajar, in our view, to a Bank of England pause. However, that pause has been thrown into doubt by the U.K. February CPI. U.K. inflation was an upside surprise, with the headline and core CPI unexpectedly quickening to 10.4% and 6.2% year-over-year, respectively. Today's Federal Reserve monetary policy decision may also be a factor – while it is not our base case, if the Fed does hike rates at its meeting, it could potentially make it easier for the Bank of England to deliver additional rate hikes after this week as well. Hence, while we are reasonably confident the BoE will hike rates 25 basis points this week, we will be scrutinizing the accompanying statement closely for signs of a pause (or not) going forward. In particular:

The Bank of England voted 7-2 at its February meeting to hike rates, with the two dissents in favor of holding rates steady. We look for a closer vote split (6-3 or 5-4) as a hint that this week's hike could be the last. However, if the vote remains decisively in favor of a rate increase, more hikes could be forthcoming.

The BoE also said it “will continue to monitor closely indications of persistent inflationary pressures, including the tightness of labor market conditions and the behavior of wage growth and services inflation. If there were to be evidence of more persistent pressures, then further tightening in monetary policy would be required.” (Note: Our bolding). Should the BoE once again highlight these persistent inflationary risks, that would be a signal of further tightening in our view.

To sum up, we will be looking for a closer vote split and a softening in the Bank of England's language to support the view of a potential pause. In the absence of those elements, we will be inclined to adjust our outlook towards further Bank of England tightening, and adjustment that could also be positive for the pound.

Swiss National Bank to hike despite banking sector strains

Early last week, we wrote on the Swiss economy, highlighting that growth appears to be bottoming out while CPI inflation has shown a renewed uptick, as the trimmed mean CPI rose 2.3% year-over-year in February. This led us to anticipate a 50 basis point hike from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) at its March 23 announcement. Since then, Swiss markets have been dominated by banking sector strains, which ultimately saw authorities engineer a takeover of Credit Suisse by rival firm UBS. The deal led the SNB to provide 100 billion francs of liquidity support for UBS, and the Swiss government to provide a guarantee of 9 billion francs against potential losses. With those developments having restored some relative calm to markets (the emphasis here is very much on the relative rather than the calm), and with the European Central Bank having raised its policy rate 50 basis points last week, we still expect the SNB to raise its policy rate by 50 basis points to 1.50% at this week's meeting. Moreover, while Swiss growth could be softer than previously expected, CPI inflation will likely remain mildly elevated above the central bank's 2% inflation target for the time being. If the SNB does raise rates 50 basis points this week, even in the context of recent market events, we believe it will also deliver a 25 basis point rate hike at its June meeting amid what we expect will be calmer markets conditions.

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Recently, the stock market has experienced high levels of volatility. If you are thinking about participating in fast moving markets, please take the time to read the information below. Wells Fargo Investments, LLC will not be restricting trading on fast moving securities, but you should understand that there can be significant additional risks to trading in a fast market. We've tried to outline the issues so you can better understand the potential risks. If you're unsure about the risks of a fast market and how they may affect a particular trade you've considering, you may want to place your trade through a phone agent at 1-800-TRADERS. The agent can explain the difference between market and limit orders and answer any questions you may have about trading in volatile markets. Higher Margin Maintenance Requirements on Volatile Issues The wide swings in intra-day trading have also necessitated higher margin maintenance requirements for certain stocks, specifically Internet, e-commerce and high-tech issues. Due to their high volatility, some of these stocks will have an initial and a maintenance requirement of up to 70%. Stocks are added to this list daily based on market conditions. Please call 1-800-TRADERS to check whether a particular stock has a higher margin maintenance requirement. Please note: this higher margin requirement applies to both new purchases and current holdings. A change in the margin requirement for a current holding may result in a margin maintenance call on your account. Fast Markets A fast market is characterized by heavy trading and highly volatile prices. These markets are often the result of an imbalance of trade orders, for example: all "buys" and no "sells." Many kinds of events can trigger a fast market, for example a highly anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO), an important company news announcement or an analyst recommendation. Remember, fast market conditions can affect your trades regardless of whether they are placed with an agent, over the internet or on a touch tone telephone system. In Fast Markets service response and account access times may vary due to market conditions, systems performance, and other factors. Potential Risks in a Fast Market "Real-time" Price Quotes May Not be Accurate Prices and trades move so quickly in a fast market that there can be significant price differences between the quotes you receive one moment and the next. Even "real-time quotes" can be far behind what is currently happening in the market. The size of a quote, meaning the number of shares available at a particular price, may change just as quickly. A real-time quote for a fast moving stock may be more indicative of what has already occurred in the market rather than the price you will receive. Your Execution Price and Orders Ahead In a fast market, orders are submitted to market makers and specialists at such a rapid pace, that a backlog builds up which can create significant delays. Market makers may execute orders manually or reduce size guarantees during periods of volatility. When you place a market order, your order is executed on a first-come first-serve basis. This means if there are orders ahead of yours, those orders will be executed first. The execution of orders ahead of yours can significantly affect your execution price. Your submitted market order cannot be changed or cancelled once the stock begins trading. Initial Public Offerings may be Volatile IPOs for some internet, e-commerce and high tech issues may be particularly volatile as they begin to trade in the secondary market. Customers should be aware that market orders for these new public companies are executed at the current market price, not the initial offering price. Market orders are executed fully and promptly, without regard to price and in a fast market this may result in an execution significantly different from the current price quoted for that security. Using a limit order can limit your risk of receiving an unexpected execution price. Large Orders in Fast Markets Large orders are often filled in smaller blocks. An order for 10,000 shares will sometimes be executed in two blocks of 5,000 shares each. In a fast market, when you place an order for 10,000 shares and the real-time market quote indicates there are 15,000 shares at 5, you would expect your order to execute at 5. In a fast market, with a backlog of orders, a real-time quote may not reflect the state of the market at the time your order is received by the market maker or specialist. Once the order is received, it is executed at the best prices available, depending on how many shares are offered at each price. Volatile markets may cause the market maker to reduce the size of guarantees. This could result in your large order being filled in unexpected smaller blocks and at significantly different prices. For example: an order for 10,000 shares could be filled as 2,500 shares at 5 and 7,500 shares at 10, even though you received a real-time quote indicating that 15,000 shares were available at 5. In this example, the market moved significantly from the time the "real-time" market quote was received and when the order was submitted. Online Trading and Duplicate Orders Because fast markets can cause significant delays in the execution of a trade, you may be tempted to cancel and resubmit your order. Please consider these delays before canceling or changing your market order, and then resubmitting it. There is a chance that your order may have already been executed, but due to delays at the exchange, not yet reported. When you cancel or change and then resubmit a market order in a fast market, you run the risk of having duplicate orders executed. Limit Orders Can Limit Risk A limit order establishes a "buy price" at the maximum you're willing to pay, or a "sell price" at the lowest you are willing to receive. Placing limit orders instead of market orders can reduce your risk of receiving an unexpected execution price. A limit order does not guarantee your order will be executed -" however, it does guarantee you will not pay a higher price than you expected. Telephone and Online Access During Volatile Markets During times of high market volatility, customers may experience delays with the Wells Fargo Online Brokerage web site or longer wait times when calling 1-800-TRADERS. It is possible that losses may be suffered due to difficulty in accessing accounts due to high internet traffic or extended wait times to speak to a telephone agent. Freeriding is Prohibited Freeriding is when you buy a security low and sell it high, during the same trading day, but use the proceeds of its sale to pay for the original purchase of the security. There is no prohibition against day trading, however you must avoid freeriding. To avoid freeriding, the funds for the original purchase of the security must come from a source other than the sale of the security. Freeriding violates Regulation T of the Federal Reserve Board concerning the extension of credit by the broker-dealer (Wells Fargo Investments, LLC) to its customers. The penalty requires that the customer's account be frozen for 90 days. Stop and Stop Limit Orders A stop is an order that becomes a market order once the security has traded through the stop price chosen. You are guaranteed to get an execution. For example, you place an order to buy at a stop of $50 which is above the current price of $45. If the price of the stock moves to or above the $50 stop price, the order becomes a market order and will execute at the current market price. Your trade will be executed above, below or at the $50 stop price. In a fast market, the execution price could be drastically different than the stop price. A "sell stop" is very similar. You own a stock with a current market price of $70 a share. You place a sell stop at $67. If the stock drops to $67 or less, the trade becomes a market order and your trade will be executed above, below or at the $67 stop price. In a fast market, the execution price could be drastically different than the stop price. A stop limit has two major differences from a stop order. With a stop limit, you are not guaranteed to get an execution. If you do get an execution on your trade, you are guaranteed to get your limit price or better. For example, you place an order to sell stock you own at a stop limit of $67. If the stock drops to $67 or less, the trade becomes a limit order and your trade will only be executed at $67 or better. Glossary All or None (AON) A stipulation of a buy or sell order which instructs the broker to either fill the whole order or don't fill it at all; but in the latter case, don't cancel it, as the broker would if the order were filled or killed. Day Order A buy or sell order that automatically expires if it is not executed during that trading session. Fill or Kill An order placed that must immediately be filled in its entirety or, if this is not possible, totally canceled. Good Til Canceled (GTC) An order to buy or sell which remains in effect until it is either executed or canceled (WellsTrade® accounts have set a limit of 60 days, after which we will automatically cancel the order). Immediate or Cancel An order condition that requires all or part of an order to be executed immediately. The part of the order that cannot be executed immediately is canceled. Limit Order An order to buy or sell a stated quantity of a security at a specified price or at a better price (higher for sales or lower for purchases). Maintenance Call A call from a broker demanding the deposit of cash or marginable securities to satisfy Regulation T requirements and/or the House Maintenance Requirement. This may happen when the customer's margin account balance falls below the minimum requirements due to market fluctuations or other activity. Margin Requirement Minimum amount that a client must deposit in the form of cash or eligible securities in a margin account as spelled out in Regulation T of the Federal Reserve Board. Reg. T requires a minimum of $2,000 or 50% of the purchase price of eligible securities bought on margin or 50% of the proceeds of short sales. Market Makers NASD member firms that buy and sell NASDAQ securities, at prices they display in NASDAQ, for their own account. There are currently over 500 firms that act as NASDAQ Market Makers. One of the major differences between the NASDAQ Stock Market and other major markets in the U.S. is NASDAQ's structure of competing Market Makers. Each Market Maker competes for customer order flow by displaying buy and sell quotations for a guaranteed number of shares. Once an order is received, the Market Maker will immediately purchase for or sell from its own inventory, or seek the other side of the trade until it is executed, often in a matter of seconds. Market Order An order to buy or sell a stated amount of a security at the best price available at the time the order is received in the trading marketplace. Specialists Specialist firms are those securities firms which hold seats on national securities exchanges and are charged with maintaining orderly markets in the securities in which they have exclusive franchises. They buy securities from investors who want to sell and sell when investors want to buy. Stop An order that becomes a market order once the security has traded through the designated stop price. Buy stops are entered above the current ask price. If the price moves to or above the stop price, the order becomes a market order and will be executed at the current market price. This price may be higher or lower than the stop price. Sell stops are entered below the current market price. If the price moves to or below the stop price, the order becomes a market order and will be executed at the current market price. Stop Limit An order that becomes a limit order once the security trades at the designated stop price. A stop limit order instructs a broker to buy or sell at a specific price or better, but only after a given stop price has been reached or passed. It is a combination of a stop order and a limit order. These articles are for information and education purposes only. You will need to evaluate the merits and risks associated with relying on any information provided. Although this article may provide information relating to approaches to investing or types of securities and investments you might buy or sell, Wells Fargo and its affiliates are not providing investment recommendations, advice, or endorsements. Data have been obtained from what are considered to be reliable sources; however, their accuracy, completeness, or reliability cannot be guaranteed. Wells Fargo makes no warranties and bears no liability for your use of this information. The information made available to you is not intended, and should not be construed as legal, tax, or investment advice, or a legal opinion.

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