The dollar is up against the Japanese Yen and the British pound Wednesday afternoon and is paring its losses against the Euro following the release of the Federal Reserve statement. As expected, the Federal Reserve made no change to monetary policy in light of disappointing recent economic data.
“Economic activity appears to have slowed,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement released after its two-day meeting this week. “Growth in household spending has moderated, although households’ real income has risen at a solid rate and consumer sentiment remains high.”
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left its benchmark interest rate unchanged in a range of 0.25% to 0.50%.
Stubbornly low inflation and rough patch for the economy have kept the FOMC from raising interest rates since December, when rates were hiked for the first time in a decade.
Some economists expected clues regarding a possible June rate hike, but the Fed gave no clear signal on timing of next rate increase.
Pending home sales in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of March, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday, with pending sales rising to their highest level in almost a year.
NAR said its pending home sales index climbed by 1.4 percent to 110.5 in March after jumping by 3.4 percent to a revised 109.0 in February. Economists had expected pending sales to rise by 0.5 percent.
A stronger euro is not a concern for the European Central Bank, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said in an interview published Wednesday.
“The euro has stabilized over the last month after a clear depreciation,” Coeure told the Italian daily Il Sole 24 in an interview, the transcript of which was published on the ECB website.
“It is not an obstacle to our monetary policy,” he said.
The dollar slipped to a low of $1.1359 against the Euro around the release of the Fed statement, but has since bounced back to around $1.1310.
German consumer optimism improved unexpectedly in May, survey data from market research group GfK showed Wednesday. The forward-looking consumer sentiment index rose to 9.7 from 9.4 in April. It was forecast to remain unchanged in May.
Germany import prices declined at the fastest pace in more than six years in March, Destatis reported Wednesday. Import prices dropped 5.9 percent year-on-year in March, following a 5.7 percent fall in February and a 3.8 percent decrease in January. This was the biggest fall since October 2009, when prices decreased 8.1 percent.
French consumer confidence remained unchanged in April, the statistical office Insee reported Wednesday. The consumer sentiment index came in at 94 in April, the same as in March. It was forecast to rise to 95.
The buck has climbed to around $1.4540 against the pound sterling this afternoon, from an early low of $1.4621.
The U.K. economy expanded at a slower pace in the first quarter of the year as the service sector alone made positive contribution to growth amid the “Brexit” fears.
Gross domestic product grew 0.4 percent from a quarter ago, when the economy expanded 0.6 percent, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics revealed Wednesday. The sequential growth rate came in line with economists’ expectations.
U.K. retail sales declined unexpectedly in April at the fastest pace since January 2012 but a rebound is expected next month, Distributive Trends Survey from the Confederation of British Industry revealed Wednesday.
A balance of 13 percent reported a decline in sales in April, reversing a 7 percent rise in March. Economists had forecast a score of +13 percent. Nonetheless, a balance of 9 percent expect sales to improve in May.
The greenback has broken out to around Y111.565 against the Japanese Yen this afternoon, after hovering around Y111.200 for much of the session.
Japan’s all industry activity decreased at a slower-than-expected pace in February, after rising in the previous month, figures from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed Wednesday. The all industry activity index fell 1.2 percent month-over-month in February, in contrast to a 1.2 percent climb in January. Economists had expected a 1.3 percent decline for the month.



Hello, i think that i saw you visited my blog thus i came to “return the favor”.I am trying to find things to enhance my website!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!
Hello would you mind letting me know which web host you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you recommend a good internet hosting provider at a honest price? Many thanks, I appreciate it!
Today, while I was at work, my sister stole my iphone and tested to see if it can survive a 30 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My apple ipad is now broken and she has 83 views. I know this is totally off topic but I had to share it with someone!
I’m not sure exactly why but this website is loading incredibly slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say great blog!
Sadly, not a lot of people have the opportunity or the guts to actually go and do such a thing. I had no idea what was happening still. Watch how I handle your ups and downs, then treat me like I treat you.
Anyoption provides binary-option trading to all degrees of buyers, whatever their expertise.
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?
If you want to maximize pips and lessen deficits, get a forex automatic trading program that is intelligent and put your trading on autopilot.
They may be broadly labeled directly into two form of strategies are profit-maximizing risk and strategies decreasing strategies.