breaking news SNB to hike interest rate by 50 basis points this week – Reuters poll

• 18 out of 28 economists see a rate hike of 50 basis points
• 9 out of 28 economists see a 75 basis point rate hike

Some views from UBS and Citi on the upcoming Swiss central bank meeting:

“In our view, the SNB will not know the outcome of the ECB meeting in advance and may not want to risk the spread getting too wide, also given that the ECB might surprise with a more significant increase. Moreover, if in doubt, we believe that the SNB would prefer to go with the more hawkish choice.” — Felix Huefner, Senior European Economist UBS

“The slowing economy, falling energy prices, but also the shift in focus towards balance sheet reduction are working against strong rate hikes. However, interest rate differentials are already historically wide with fewer meetings available, the SNB needs to make bigger strides to keep up. That’s why we are maintaining our call for a 75 basis point rate hike to 1.25%.” — Christian Schulz, economist at Citi