Fed stands pat on interest rates, Euro soars 1%

The following analysis is based on research posted at Saxo Bank’s Tradingfloor. The original article appears at Tradingfloor.com. For more opinions by leading FX analysts in real time see LeapRate’s Forex Research section, or subscribe to our daily Forex Research Newsletter.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) surprised traders (or at least half of them), when it chose to leave interest rates unchanged, and delivered a rather dovish statement. The US dollar tanked on the news although initial gains in the commodity bloc of currencies were quickly erased. The big winner was the EURUSD, which gained 1.15% since Thursday lunch time in New York.

EURUSD fed rate move

Source: CNBC.

During the morning, US data failed to garner any trading enthusiasm due to the looming specter of the FOMC meeting. As it was, the housing report had a soft tilt with a hefty downward revision to the July result.

WTI crude oil prices had a volatile day within a $46.50-$47.50/barrel trading range, testing both sides more than once and finally closing on the day almost exactly in the middle of the range. It will be interesting to see if Janet Yellen’s expressed concerns about the Chinese economic slowdown translate into lower crude prices.

US equity indices were slightly lower at the close, with the exception of the NASDAQ, which was slightly above flat.

Opinions:

More than a few people believe that the FOMC got it wrong, including Saxo Bank chief economist Steen Jakobsen. See: Fed fluffs lines to beat path to US recession in Q1.

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