Dollar is mixed after FOMC minutes revealed nothing new, nothing special. The greenback was Sold off after Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comment that interest rate is “just below” neutral. However, there was no follow through selling since then.
Dollar is still trading up against Yen, Sterling and Canadian for the week. And technically, EUR/USD is in range of 1.1267/1472. USD/CHF is in range of 0.9908/1.0006. GBP/USD is in range of 1.2725/2927. Even the strong AUD/USD couldn’t get ride of 0.7314 resistance cleanly. Traders might want to wait for the result of Trump-Xi meeting before taking further commitment.
The FOMC minutes for the November revealed that the members still considered a rate hike in December is appropriate. Yet, they debated on the change in forward guidance regarding the pledge on “further gradual increases” in the policy rate. Some judged that the policy rate is near to the neutral level, while some suggested stressing the importance of incoming data on monetary policy decision. The members in general were upbeat on the economic developments. Yet, they were concerned about the negative impacts of Trump’s imposition of trade tariff on the economy, as well as the “volatility in equity markets was accompanied by a rise in risk spreads on corporate debt”. More in FOMC Minutes Signals Rate Hike “Fairly Soon”, Policy Outlook Masked by Tariff and Debts.
More suggested reading on FOMC.
