SNB expected to lower rates at 8.30am GMT

At 8.30am GMT the Swiss National Bank (SNB) is widely expected to lower its OCR (official cash rate), to 0.75% from 1%. There has been little news from the Swiss Central Bank lately, to suggest they will do otherwise. The SNB is always keen to battle the strength of their currency and with the USD/CHF still parked way below parity with the dollar, this has been a theme for many years. Of course they have been unsuccessful in that quest for as long as I can remember. As noted here yesterday the USD/CHF set a technically positive close, above its 200 day moving average on Tuesday and yesterday it extended the move to a high, at 0.8854. The dollar later closed slightly higher again, at 0.8842. That 200 day moving average remains unchanged, at 0.8823 this morning. Just now the USD/CHF is falling back though and testing that moving average, after stalling twice just above 0.8850 yesterday. It will also be important to see what the SNB have to say at 8.30am when they deliver the outcome of their final monetary policy decision of the year. The USD/CHF is currently trading at 0.8823