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There were 205K Initial Jobless Claims in the week ending March 14, a decrease of 8K from the previous week's unrevised level, the US Department of Labor (DOL) reported on Thursday. This reading came in better than the market expectation of 215K.

TD Securities’ Senior Commodity Strategist Daniel Ghali warns that Gold faces a challenging backdrop as Middle Eastern conflict strains official sector demand and Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA) keep selling.

ING’s Senior Economist Min Joo Kang notes that the Bank of Japan kept its policy rate at 0.75% and maintained a broadly unchanged economic outlook, while acknowledging higher uncertainty. Governor Ueda avoided giving timing signals on the next move, and ING still expects a rate hike in June.

Nomura analysts note that the Swiss National Bank (SNB) kept its policy rate at 0.00% and strengthened its guidance on FX intervention as the Swiss Franc (CHF) has appreciated. Very low Swiss inflation and a stronger CHF are seen prompting FX purchases in Q1.

ING’s Senior Economist Charlotte de Montpellier notes that the Swiss National Bank kept its policy rate at 0% as low inflation and a strong Swiss Franc cushion higher energy prices. The SNB’s new projections show very weak inflation through 2027, reinforcing expectations of unchanged rates.

Gold (XAU/USD) extends its decline on Thursday, slipping to over a one-month low as shifting near-term macroeconomic dynamics overshadow its traditional safe-haven appeal, despite heightened geopolitical tensions from the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran.

GBP/USD trades around 1.3300 on Thursday at the time of writing, up 0.28% on the day, supported by a mildly positive market reaction to the Bank of England (BoE) monetary policy decision.

The Bank of England (BoE) announced on Thursday that it maintained the bank rate at 3.75% following the March policy meeting, as widely expected. All nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted in favor of the decision. Markets were expecting two policymakers to vote for a rate cut.

Gold prices remain under heavy pressure on Thursday, breaking below the key $4,600 mark per troy ounce to hit fresh multi-week lows, down for the seventh consecutive day.

BNY’s Head of Markets Macro Strategy Bob Savage notes that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) kept its policy rate around 0.75% with an 8–1 vote, noting moderate economic recovery and inflation near 2%.