EUR/USD Soars as Bernanke Hints No Tightening

The dollar fell against the euro today after the FOMC released its monetary policy statement showing that the stimulus bond-buying program will end on schedule, but the low borrowing costs will last for an “extended period”. EUR/USD was declining during the day before the release came out and paid little attention to two other reports today. The currency pair is now trading near 1.4727.
Durable goods orders increased by 2.5% in March, following 0.7% increase in February (revised up from 0.9% decline). The forecast for this fundamental indicator was at 2.3% (Event A on the chart.).
US crude oil inventories added 6.2 million barrels last week after falling by 2.3 million barrels a week earlier. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 2.5 million barrels during the same period, following 1.5 million drop (Event B on the chart.).
Federal Open Market Committee released its policy statement today, confirming the federal funds rate target at between 0% and 0.25%. The “moderate” pace of economic recovery was cited and it was stated that the $600 billion treasuries buying program will be finished by the end of the second quarter of this year (Event C on the chart.):

In particular, the Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its securities holdings and will complete purchases of $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the current quarter. The Committee will regularly review the size and composition of its securities holdings in light of incoming information and is prepared to adjust those holdings as needed to best foster maximum employment and price stability.

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