USD/NOK hovers above 1-month low with focus on cenbanks

The USD/NOK currency pair traded mostly flat just above a fresh 1-month low of 10.2425 on Wednesday ahead of the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s and Norges Bank’s policy meetings.

The Fed is widely expected to leave its federal funds rate target range intact at 4.25%-4.50% at its May 6th-7th meeting.

The minutes of the FOMC meeting in March showed that policy makers expected inflation would be pushed higher this year because of the impact of elevated tariffs, though they acknowledged considerable uncertainty over the magnitude and persistence of these effects.

Investors will also be paying close attention to the press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell for clues over the timing of any future interest rate cuts.

About 80 basis points of Fed rate cuts by year-end are now priced in, with the first cut likely occurring in July.

Meanwhile, Norges Bank is expected to keep its key policy rate on hold at 4.5% for the 11th straight meeting on May 8th.

In March, policy makers stressed that inflation had accelerated sharply and had remained notably higher than expectations.

Norges Bank cautioned that if the policy rate was lowered prematurely, prices could continue to rise rapidly.

Still, the central bank noted that it expected to lower interest rates later this year, likely bringing the policy rate to 4% by year-end.

The USD/NOK currency pair was last little changed on the day to trade at 10.2642.