Dollar slips after Fed decision, trade worries shackle shares. The US central bank raised the target range for the federal funds rate to 1.5-1.75% as it predicted inflation would accelerate in the coming months. The overall message was hawkish, projections indicated there would be three rate increases this year, against some forecasts of four. Instead, the Fed pointed to an extra increase in 2019 with more tightening in 2020.

Wall Street stock indexes ended the day lower, with the S&P 500 (SPX) losing 0.18% despite a boost from sharp gains in energy shares (SPNY) on rising oil prices. The Nasdaq (IXIC) dropped 0.26% with Apple (O:AAPL) falling below its 100-day average even as Facebook (O:FB) bounced back after two days of steep losses amid a controversy over outside exploitation of its users’ data.

That pushed the USD lower in the currency market, with the dollar index (DXY) (=USD) testing this month’s low after posting its biggest fall in two months on Wednesday.

EUR gained 0.2% to $1.2363, extending its recovery from a near three-week low of $1.2240 touched earlier in the week.

USD shed up to 0.4% to 105.58 JPY , turning down on the week to edge closer to the 16-month low of 105.24 hit on March 2. It last stood at 105.91 yen.

GBP pound hit a 1 1/2-month high of $1.4171, building on Wednesday’s one-percent gains. Strong British wage data published on Wednesday cemented expectations that the Bank of England was likely to signal a May rate hike after its monetary policy meeting later in the day.

Following the Fed’s move, the People’s Bank of China gingerly raised the seven-day reverse repo rate, a key short-term interest rate, by 5 basis points, to prevent U.S.-China rate differential from getting too wide.

Sources

https://www.ft.com/video/87ca55bb-fae7-40b6-97d9-8c55d8243780

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https://uk.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/dollar-on-defensive-after-fed-trade-worries-nag-shares-1089564

https://uk.investing.com/news/economy-news/us-set-for-china-tariffs-by-friday-as-trade-diplomat-says-has-tools-1088907

https://uk.investing.com/news/economic-indicators/uk-wage-growth-near-twoandahalf-year-high-boosting-chances-of-bank-of-england-rate-hike-1088073

https://www.fxstreet.com/news/us-dollar-tumbles-to-lows-near-8940-on-fomc-trade-201803220813

 

Amid turmoil over Facebook privacy leek, US stock futures edge higher with tech, Fed in focus. Investors taking a breather after a tech-led sell-off left both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite nursing their biggest one day loss in over five weeks. With about an hour to go before the markets open, futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.2% while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq 100 nudged 0.1% higher.

The dollar, as measured by the DXY index, is trading 0.5% higher at 90.227. Still, with a Fed rate rise already fully priced in, the dollar barely gained from the prospect of a rate hike.

EUR/USD continues to pivot narrowly around 1.23. The EUR looked well bid yesterday – albeit in the context of a market that is range bound.

GBP/USD still neutral, 1.4145 stays on the expectations.

The USD/JPY is trading back around ¥106.40 as markets look more positive.

WTI (oil futures on NYMEX) extended its five-day winning streak and hit fresh two-week tops just shy of the $ 63 mark before entering a phase of bullish consolidation.

Gold continued losing ground through the mid-European session and dropped back closer to over 2-week lows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 98.75 points, or 0.4 percent, to 24,709.66. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 7.04 points, or 0.26 percent, to 2,719.96. The Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) added 11.33 points, or 0.15 percent, to 7,355.57

Sources: 

https://www.ft.com/news-feed#site-content

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https://www.fxstreet.com/currencies/usdjpy

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https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/stock-futures-flat-with-fed-meeting-trumps-tariffs-in-focus-1349907

 

 

 

 

U.S. Futures were lower on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed a tweet fury over the weekend, sparking another round of political uncertainty. First, Trump accused Special Counsel Robert Mueller of hiring “hardened Democrats” to investigate a ties between the 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. After a while, he dismissed the idea that former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe had incriminating documents. McCabe was fired on Friday, just two days before his retirement.

Combined these two tweets caused more havoc than entire macroeconomic updates coming from the Fed: The S&P 500 futures fell 14 points or 0.54% to 2,741.25 while Dow futures decreased 131 points or 0.52% to 24,834.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was down 98 and a half points or 1.40% to 6,945.50.

Markets are also looking ahead to Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve delivers its interest rate decision. Traders are expecting an interest rate increase as Fed chair Jerome Powell gives his first press conference.

In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 116 points or 0.94% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 35 points or 0.67% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 91 points or 1.28%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 25 points or 0.74% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 64 points or 0.66%.

Sources: 

https://www.ft.com/markets?format=&page=2

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/stocks-us-futures-point-to-lower-opening-bell-after-trump-tweet-storm-1347564

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/five-reasons-why-single-trump-tweet-mueller-stretched-truth-n857831