5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

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5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

Aside from the Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, Bank of England, Swiss National Bank, and Norges Bank, all have policy decisions to make in the next few days. The euro fell as it is seen as vulnerable to a rate hike in the United States, given expectations that the Fed will tighten policy faster than the dovish ECB. The dollar index, which measures the dollar against six major peers, was up 0.2% at 96.286. The euro was down 0.3% at $1.1285. The dollar was up 0.1% against the yen at 113.525 yen. While markets have been moving to price in a faster taper and a more aggressive tightening path from the Fed, there is still scope for surprises this week - possibly due to a hawkish shift in the dot plot or the Fed deploying language that indicates a quicker shift to tighter monetary conditions, said Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto. A hawkish-sounding Fed is likely to contrast with dovish messaging from the ECB and BoJ in particular. Some analysts believe that the dollar's march higher in recent weeks has already factored in many of its potential sources of strength in the short term. "I don't feel the same degree of dollar bullishness as the consensus estimates," said Kamakshya Trivedi, co-head of global FX, rates and EM strategy at Goldman Sachs. If we start to see higher commodity prices and decent data from China, the dollar may be on the back foot after a good run. The pound dropped 0.2% to $1.3247 after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday Britain was facing an Omicron tidal wave On Monday. He said at least one person has died in the UK due to the latest variant. The Swiss franc was down 0.1% against the dollar, which was last up 0.1% at 0.9219 francs, while the euro was down 0.1% at 1.0410 francs. The Swiss National Bank's sight deposits rose by their highest level in seven months last week, indicating that policymakers are taking the first decisive steps to fight a rise in the value of the franc against its major rivals, particularly the euro. The SNB is due to make its latest interest rate decision on Thursday, as it has been battling the appreciation of the franc since the start of the epidemic. After hitting levels above $50,000 on Sunday, the price of the digital currency fell 4.7% to $47,787. The coin, linked to the Ethereum blockchain, dropped 5.3% to $3,915.