• Fed: All eyes on the new ‘dots’

• BoE: It all depends on Brexit

• SNB: Staying as dovish as possible, preventing franc strength

• Asia central banks: Eyed for signs of increased dovishness amid the slowdown in the global economy

Seven central banks will meet this week, including Fed, Swiss National Bank (SNB), Bank of England (BoE) and 4 from Asia region - Bank Indonesia (BI), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Bank of Thailand (BoT) and Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) (CBC).

All are expected to keep monetary policies unchanged. SNB and BoE are unlikely to provide any fresh inspirations to the market. Fed’s new economic projections, however, will finally tell us, in terms of numbers rather than words, what made Fed change to a “patient” stance this year. While most of the Asia central banks - BOT, CBC, BSP and BI - are likely to keep policy rates unchanged this week, the Philippine central bank with a new Governor in-charge will be more closely watched.

Fed: All eyes on the new ‘dots’

Arguably the main event in the coming week will be the Fed policy meeting, which concludes on Wednesday. No action is anticipated, so market attention will fall on the new economic forecasts, Chairman Powell’s press conference, and the updated interest rate projections in the so-called ‘dot plot’.

Source: BIMB Securities Research - 20 Mar 2019