Macroeconomic round up: The Fed sounding more and more dovish
Jason Walls breaks down the week's biggest news in macroeconomics. With special audio feature.
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Earnings
The US Federal Reserve’s comments on its expectation of further rate hikes this week threw the currency market into a spin.
Asian currencies surged, as the greenback plummeted. In New Zealand, the kiwi jumped almost a cent and-a-half upon the Fed’s statement.
The Fed is now picking just two hikes in its interest rates this year, down from an estimate of four it made in December.
Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen said although economic activity in the US was upbeat, despite a weakening global economy, business investment and net exports have been soft.
She also warned inflation was still a major issue for the US economy.
“Inflation picked up in recent months; however, it continued to run below the committee's 2% longer-run objective, partly reflecting declines in energy prices and in prices of non-energy imports.
“Market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low; survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations are little changed, on balance, in recent months,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones turned positive for the year as US crude oil settled above $40 a barrel.
This follows a rally in the commodities market.
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Fri, 18 Mar 2016
Fri, 18 Mar 2016
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Macroeconomic round up: The Fed sounding more and more dovish
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