Swiss government slashes 2019 growth forecast to 0.8% vs. 1.2% previous

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs' (SECO) released its latest economic forecasts, with the key highlights found below.

2019 GDP growth forecast at 0.8% (previous forecast was 1.2%).

2020 GDP growth forecast 1.7% (unchanged).

2019 inflation forecast 0.5% (previously 0.6%).

2020 inflation forecast 0.4% (previously 0.6%).

Sees exports will grow merely below-average in 2019 for first time in several years.

Sees exports to grow 2.3% in 2019 (previous forecast was 3.1%).

In the coming year, Swiss economy is set to brighten only gradually.

Following the downward revisions to the Swiss economic growth and inflation forecasts, the Swiss franc shaved-off gains against its American peer, now trading neutral near 0.9925 region.

All eyes now remain on the Swiss National Bank (SNB) quarterly monetary policy announcement this Thursday. Markets are not ruling out a surprise 25bps rate cut but the broader consensus is of rates on-hold.

USD/CHF Levels to watch

USD/CHF

Overview
Today last price	0.9924
Today Daily Change	-0.0012
Today Daily Change %	-0.12
Today daily open	0.9929

Trends
Daily SMA20	0.9859
Daily SMA50	0.9842
Daily SMA100	0.9916
Daily SMA200	0.995

Levels
Previous Daily High	0.994
Previous Daily Low	0.9864
Previous Weekly High	0.9947
Previous Weekly Low	0.9854
Previous Monthly High	0.9976
Previous Monthly Low	0.9659
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	0.9911
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	0.9893
Daily Pivot Point S1	0.9882
Daily Pivot Point S2	0.9835
Daily Pivot Point S3	0.9806
Daily Pivot Point R1	0.9958
Daily Pivot Point R2	0.9987
Daily Pivot Point R3	1.0034

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD holds losses below 1.1850 ahead of FOMC Minutes

EUR/USD stays on the back foot below 1.1850 in the European session on Wednesday, pressured by renewed US Dollar demand and reports that ECB President Lagarde will step down before the end of her term. Traders now look forward to the Minutes of the Fed's January monetary policy meeting for fresh signals on future rate cuts.

GBP/USD defends 1.3550 after UK inflation data

GBP/USD is holding above 1.3550 in Wednesday's European morning, little changed following the UK Consumer Price Index (CPI) data release. The UK inflation eased as expected in January, reaffirming bets for a March BoE interest rate cut, especially after Tuesday's weak employment report.

Gold retains bullish bias amid Fed rate cut bets, ahead of Fed Minutes

Gold sticks to modest intraday gains through the early European session, reversing a major part of the previous day's heavy losses of more than 2%, to the $4,843-4,842 region or a nearly two-week low. That said, the fundamental backdrop warrants caution for bulls ahead of the FOMC Minutes, which will look for more cues about the US Federal Reserve's rate-cut path.

Pi Network rally defies market pressure ahead of its first anniversary

Pi Network is trading above $0.1900 at press time on Wednesday, extending the weekly gains by nearly 8% so far. The steady recovery is supported by a short-term pause in mainnet migration, which reduces pressure on the PI token supply for Centralized Exchanges. The technical outlook focuses on the $0.1919 resistance as bullish momentum increases.

Mixed UK inflation data no gamechanger for the Bank of England

Food inflation plunged in January, but service sector price pressure is proving stickier. We continue to expect Bank of England rate cuts in March and June. The latest UK inflation read is a mixed bag for the Bank of England, but we doubt it drastically changes the odds of a March rate cut.

Top 3 Price Prediction: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple face downside risk as bears regain control

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple remain under pressure on Wednesday, with the broader trend still sideways. BTC is edging below $68,000, nearing the lower consolidating boundary, while ETH and XRP also declined slightly, approaching their key supports.