Morning Brief – Awaiting Powell & Co

Traders in the Asian and early European session basically awaited the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of England policy decision later today, with market moves minimal.

Also Mainland China and Hong Kong were both closed for a holiday today, Dragon Boat Festival. This helped drain interest and some liquidity from Asian markets.

Major forex rates also traded in a very tightly rangebound fear was limited news flow of note. On the central bank front we had Bank of Japan board member Asahi Noguchi speaking, however, it was not a mover for the yen currency.

Trades also await a slew of Fed speaker later today. With little action of note it probably wise to breakdown the schedule of Fed speakers who are set to speak today.

Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller gives opening remarks before the Central Bank of Ireland and International Journal of Central Banking Research Conference

We also see Federal Reserve Board Governor Michelle Bowman gives opening remarks before the Policy Summit 2023 on the “Communities Thriving in a Changing Economy” conference and hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

The main event will be Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivers semi-annual monetary policy testimony before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. Note that his prepared remarks will be the same as Wednesday, but the Q&A may vary and also impact market pricing.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester also speaks on the economic and policy outlook before the Policy Summit 2023 “Communities Thriving in a Changing Economy” conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

And finally, we have Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin speaking on economy before the Risk Management Association RVA Chapter.