The US Dollar Strengthened After The Publication Of The FOMC Reports

Yesterday, the report of the Federal Reserve January meeting was published, which pointed to the improvement of the US economy and the probability of a more rapid rate increase. At the moment, more than 80% of financial markets participants believe that the regulator will tighten monetary policy in March. The Federal Reserve officials also noted that the inflation will probably reach the target level of 2%. As a result, the US currency strengthened against the major currencies. The US dollar index (DX) closed in the positive zone (+0.44%).

The British pound began to decline after it became known that the unemployment rate in the UK rose to 4.4%, while experts expected the figure of 4.3%. The number of unemployed increased by 46 thousand to 1.47 million people. At the same time, the average wage level increased by 2.5% instead of the forecasted 2.4%.

The “black gold” prices began to decline against the strengthening of the US dollar. Futures for the WTI crude oil are being traded in the range of $61.00- $61.25 per barrel. We recommend you to pay attention to the report on crude oil inventories in the US at 18:00 (GMT+2:00).

Market Indicators

Yesterday, the major US stock indices closed in the negative zone: SPY (-0.50%), DIA (-0.65%), QQQ (-0.28%).

The 10-year US government bonds yield began to grow after the publication of the report of the Fed January meeting. At the moment the indicator is at the level of 2.93%.

The news feed on 2018.02.22: