By Gustav Sandstrom

 
 
TODAY'S CALENDAR - All times GMT 
Nordic Macro 
 
0700 Norway PMI 
0700 Denmark June unemployment 
 
Other Macro 
 
0755 Germany July 
     manufacturing PMI 
0800 Eurozone July 
     manufacturing PMI 
0830 UK July manufacturing 
     PMI 
1100 Bank of England interest 
     rate announcement 
1145 ECB interest rate 
     announcement 
1400 US ISM July manufacturing 
 
Nordic Equities 
 
0530 Sanoma 2Q 
0530 SRV 2Q 
0600 Danske Bank 2Q 
0600 Loomis 2Q 
0600 Neste Oil 2Q 
0630 Vacon 2Q 
0900 Metsa Board 2Q 
n/a  TGS-Nopec 2Q 
 
Other Equities 
 
n/a  ArcelorMittal 2Q 
n/a  AstraZeneca 2Q 
n/a  Royal Dutch Shell 2Q 
n/a  Siemens 3Q 
n/a  Societe General 2Q 
n/a  ExxonMobil 2Q 
n/a  Procter & Gamble 2Q 
 
 
IN FOCUS: 

Nordic investors' focus Thursday will on the interest rate announcements from the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England, as well as purchasing managers indexes worldwide.

Early trading will see market participants digesting the U.S. Fed's monetary policy announcement, which came out after the Nordic markets close, Nordea equity strategist Jonas Olavi said.

Federal Reserve officials Wednesday kept the central bank's $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program in place and pointed to modest growth, higher mortgage rates and low inflation as factors it is watching closely.

The Fed said that the economy has expanded "at a modest pace," during the first half of the year and also noted that mortgage rates "have risen somewhat."

The description of growth as modest appears to be a slight downgrade from the "moderate" growth Fed officials had been seeing in the economy. It is the first time in at least three years that the Fed has used the term "modest" to describe the economy in its formal policy statement. The Fed's comment about higher mortgage rates is also a new expression of concern in the statement.

U.S. share rallied post the FOMC, but the gains evaporated and indexes ended mixed.

In Europe, the ECB is likely around lunch time to repeat earlier hints that it will help stabilize the euro-zone economy if needed but that politicians also need to take action, Mr. Olavi said. Meanwhile, the Bank of England's announcement will probably have rather limited effects on investor sentiment in the Nordic region, he added.

With Chinese PMI data already out, there will be particular focus on the figures from the U.S., Mr. Olavi said. That data, due in the European afternoon, will probably be pretty solid, he added

China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index printed at 50.3, above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction and above the 49.8 expected by economists. The official data, however, bucked a privately compiled report also released Thursday, which excludes state-owned enterprises and is watched as a pulse on the health of small-to-medium sized companies in China. The HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to a final reading of 47.7 in July, down from 48.2 in June.

 
FOREX: 
 
EUR/NOK 
Latest 0350 GMT 7.8344-442 
Previous 2150 GMT 7.8335-424 
%Chg +0.02 
 
EUR/SEK 
Latest 0350 GMT 8.6416-50 
Previous 2150 GMT 8.6605-706 
%Chg -0.26 
 
USD/NOK 
Latest 0350 GMT 5.9025-90 
Previous 2150 GMT 5.8895-951 
%Chg +0.23 
 
USD/SEK 
Latest 0350 GMT 6.5107-22 
Previous 2150 GMT 6.5112-77 
%Chg -0.05 
 
 
NORDIC CURRENCIES: 

There is little news on the Nordic calendar to guide currency investors Thursday, but the monetary policy announcements from the Fed, ECB and Bank of England will probably move the Swedish krona and Norwegian krone against other currencies, SEB forex strategist Richard Falkenhall said.

The Swedish krona has been rather weak against the euro lately, and in the near term it could well continue depreciating towards 8.80, Mr. Falkenhall said. The NOK probably won't weaken as much as the SEK in the short term, he added, noting that the Norwegian currency is highly dependent on the stance of the country's central bank, which will likely leave its interest rate unchanged at its next meeting in September.

 
STOCK INDEXES: 
 
OMXN40  1,156.85  -2.43  -0.2% 
OMXS30  1,234.07  -2.79  -0.2% 
OBX       456.99  +2.08  +0.5% 
OMXC20    546.92  -0.24  -0.0% 
OMXH25  2,318.61 -14.83  -0.6% 
 
Brent  $107.90   +$0.20  +0.2% 
 
NORDIC MARKETS: 

Nordic stocks traded relatively flat Wednesday, extending the past few sessions' consolidation.

Last month was a fairly strong one for local markets, largely thanks to a solid range of second-quarter reports, Nordea's Mr. Olavi said.

Many of the companies reporting so far have seen some signs of economic stabilization in Europe, and if that trend continues there is reason to be optimistic about the stock market ahead of the second half of the year, he added.

On Thursday, Nordic investors will look forward to yet another set of quarterly earnings reports from local companies, including Danish lender Danske Bank A/S (DANSKE.KO), Swedish cash handling company Loomis AB (LOOM-B.SK) and Finnish oil refining group Neste Oil Oyj (NES1V.HE).

 
ENERGY: 

Oil prices are higher in Asia after the U.S. Federal Reserve's view that the economy was growing modestly eased fears it would soon wind down its huge stimulus programme. Investors were also cheered by better-than-expected U.S. growth figures for the April-June period, fuelling hopes for a pick-up in energy demand.

"Oil prices remain supported by the U.S. Fed's clear signal regarding retaining monetary stimulus for now," David Lennox, resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said.

Kenny Kan, market analyst CMC Markets in Singapore, said "the Chinese PMI data is having little impact on oil prices, investors are taking a wait-and-see approach while focusing on U.S. economic data."

September Nymex crude is at $105.40/bbl, up 37 cents from its previous close. Brent is at $107.90, up 20 cents

 
NEWS ROUNDUP: 

SWEDEN: Streaming music company Spotify Wednesday said its 2012 revenue was more than double that of 2011 amid the rapid digitization of the music industry, but said it also saw wider losses for the period compared with 2011.

SWEDEN: Airline SAS AB (SAS.SK) Wednesday said that as part of its plan to improve its financial position, it has finalized the sale and leaseback of six Boeing 737-600's to Deucalion Capital X Limited and ELFC (Engine Lease Finance Cooperation) acting jointly.

DENMARK: Biotech company Neurosearch A/S (NEUR.KO) Wednesday said that the company has given notice to its CEO, Rene Schneider.

NORWAY: Oil and gas producer Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA (DETNOR.OS) Wednesday said that Total E&P Norge AS, as operator of production license 535 in the Barents Sea, is in the process of concluding the drilling of appraisal well 7225/3-2 on the Norvarg gas discovery made in 2011.

FINLAND: Stainless steel maker Outokumpu Oyj (OUT1V.HE) Wednesday said it has been awarded a contract from Casa de Moneda de Mexico to supply coins to be used for Mexican currency.

Write to Gustav Sandstrom at gustav.sandstrom@dowjones.com