US Dollar Trades Sideways in Anticipation of Fed Interest Rate Hike

The US dollar was little changed today, though rose versus most European currencies as markets were waiting for the monetary policy decision of the Federal Reserve and accompanying forecasts that should reveal Fed’s outlook for the future.
The Fed will conclude its two-day meeting today and will announce the decision at 18:00 GMT. It is widely expected that the US central bank will raise its main interest rate by 25 basis points. Therefore, traders are more interested in the Fed’s outlook for the monetary policy going forward. The consensus is that policy makers will hike interest rates one more time this year after today’s hike, but the Fed’s path in 2019 is less clear.
In a positive development, China announced that it is going to reduce tariffs on a wide range of import goods. It is yet unclear, though, whether the reduction will apply to US imports.
EUR/USD slipped from 1.1766 to 1.1746 as of 16:34 GMT today. GBP/USD was little changed at 1.3173 after falling to the daily low of 1.3138 earlier. USD/JPY was virtually flat at 112.94 following the drop to 112.75.

If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the US Dollar,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

12 − six =