Currency Note US Dollar

Will they, won’t they taper – we find out on Wednesday

By Smart Currency December 16th, 2013

The US dollar made further positive movements to end the week, with speculation mounting that the Federal Reserve could taper its quantitative easing program at this week’s meeting. The “will they, won’t they” rhetoric surrounding the potential taper is by far the most important event of the week and it has the potential to cause a significant impact on the whole global foreign exchange market. Before this, there are a number of stocking fillers to wet peoples appetite, with multiple releases on Monday including the Empire State Manufacturing Index and the flash manufacturing PMI amongst others. Tuesday’s main release will be the core inflation Consumer Price Index with more inflation data and current account figures to support this. As aforementioned, Wednesday is the crucial day, with building permits preceding the all-important central bank meeting where policy makers will decide whether or not to taper its quantitative easing program and if so, how aggressively they should reduce the monthly bond purchases by. At present, there is no firm consensus view with some commentators suggesting that a taper is necessary this month, whilst others suggest a March taper would be more appropriate. More data is released on Thursday in the form of existing home sales and the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index; but US dollar movements will likely to continue to be dominated by the fallout from the central bank meeting. Get in touch with your trader now for the latest US dollar rates, with a potentially pivotal moment nigh.