020 7898 0500As expected, the Fed kept interest rates on hold at 1.5% yesterday. The central bank has forecast three rate hikes in 2018 and it will be interesting to see if this proves to be the case by the time the year is out. They did say they expected inflation to increase throughout the year and they confirmed that their rate-setting committee had unanimously selected Jerome ‘Jay’ Powell to success Yellen which will come into effect 3 February 2018.
There was also some impressive employment change figures from the US, as private businesses hired 234,000 workers in January, against an expectation of 186,000. Still, with investors awaiting the Fed meeting, no amount of positive data was likely to strengthen the dollar.
Let’s see how February plays out for the greenback.
