Norges Bank delivers a Norway rate hike, lifting its policy rate from 4.25% to 4.50%, a decision taken in committee on September 23, 2026 and made public on September 24. The same day, Sweden’s Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank chose to hold steady. Three central banks, three different paths, the same Thursday: here is what actually happened, and what each publication documents without extrapolation.
Norges Bank’s hike, decided on September 23 and published on September 24
Norges Bank’s Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee, meeting on September 23, opted for further tightening, with a statement made public on September 24 at 10:00 a.m. (Norway time), per the bank’s official calendar. According to that statement, the Committee judged that a somewhat tighter monetary policy stance was needed to bring inflation back to target within a reasonable horizon, and decided to raise the policy rate from 4.25% to 4.50%.
The official statement does not detail any recorded vote or internal debate among Committee members: it documents only the collective decision, without mentioning any prior disagreement or explicit unanimity. The Committee decided to raise the policy rate from 4.25% to 4.50%, and that is what this text allows us to state.
Riksbank and SNB: two holds announced the same day
The decision document is marked as notified at 9:30 a.m. Swedish time (CEST) on September 24, per its official heading. The Riksbank thus notified its own decision, separate from Norges Bank’s: the policy rate is set at 1.75%, meaning it remains unchanged, a decision that takes effect starting September 30, 2026. This CEST time zone is the same one France used that day.
The Swiss National Bank followed the same hold logic, after several quarterly meetings already marked by keeping the rate at 0%, per the decisions of September 25, 2025, December 11, 2025, March 19, 2026 and June 18, 2026. The September 24 statement is unambiguous: the Swiss National Bank leaves the policy rate unchanged at 0%. That statement also includes conditional forecasts for inflation (0.7% for 2026, 0.8% for 2027 and 2028) and GDP growth (between 1.5% and 2% for 2026, around 1.5% for 2027); these are conditional projections published by the SNB itself, not a commitment on the future path of the policy rate.
These three announcements, clustered in the same time window with only one diverging decision, illustrate different national economic contexts rather than a shared direction among European central banks, a point already noted in the earlier review of the same three institutions.
German ifo index: business climate improves in September
On the German data front, the ifo Institute published a rising business climate index on September 24. According to the release, the ifo Business Climate Index rose to 89.9 points in September, up from 88.8 points in August, as companies rated their current situation more positively. This increase measures surveyed companies’ perception at a given moment; it is not a growth forecast and says nothing about future decisions by the Bundesbank or the ECB.
Today’s US agenda: what is still to be published
On September 25, two US releases are still expected later in the day. August durable goods orders are due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time (2:30 p.m. Paris time that day), per the Census Bureau’s release schedule. The prior month (July data) had shown a 1.1% increase, against a market forecast of 0.4% per the aggregator consulted, a figure that is not published by the Census Bureau itself, and as of this writing the August value was not yet recorded in the calendars consulted.
The final revision of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for September also appears on today’s calendar. The aggregator consulted lists 2:00 p.m., while a media source relaying the official calendar lists 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time instead; this article does not resolve between these two conflicting times for lack of direct confirmation from the University of Michigan. The preliminary reading from September 11 had put the figure at 47.8, and the aggregator consulted lists an identical expected value of 47.8 for the final revision; this figure was not yet confirmed as final as of this writing, and no primary source consulted documents a distinct market consensus for this revision. These two releases are part of today’s agenda; they complete the detailed calendar for September 23 and 24 already covered.
What this news roundup does not allow us to claim
None of the sources consulted document a quantified market reaction to these announcements, nor a policy scenario for the next Norges Bank, Riksbank or SNB meetings. The ifo data describe an index, not a German GDP growth trajectory. To place these decisions within a broader macro agenda, see the September 22 news roundup, which covered the publications preceding this sequence of decisions.
If you follow these publications as part of a funded trading challenge, keep in mind that these announcements can influence volatility across several currency pairs without any direction being guaranteed by the official texts cited here. How sensitive your positions are to this kind of announcement also depends on the leverage cap applied to your CFDs. Those looking to assess their own approach ahead of this kind of event can also take the 7-question trader profile test offered by WeGetFunded, or configure their own challenge before the next sequence of decisions.