FOMC Statement Fails To Lift Dollar

The FOMC Statement contains no surprises. There’s no mention of what will happen after QE2 ends. Without a clear commitment to stop printing dollars, the greenback slides against other currencies, but ranges aren’t broken, as the market awaits the press conference.

EUR/USD is at 1.47, USD/JPY stops the rally it had earlier in the day, and other currencies gain against the greenback.

The statement issued by the Federal Reserve is almost a complete repeat of the previous one. The main topics are: QE2  program will continue, inflation has risen but is transitory, and rates will remain low for an extended period of time.

What will happen at the end of the quarter when the quantitative easing program ends? No answer in the statement.

The fate of purchases as QE2 comes to an end at the end of June was the main topic on the agenda of the Federal Reserve. Although there’s still one more meeting before the program ends, on June 22nd, this meeting, with the first ever press conference, is of high importance.

Jamie Coleman sees the door open for QE3 – I also sees this statement as quite open ended. In the FOMC preview, I wrote that Bernanke is likely to weigh on the dollar.

All eyes are now on the Ben Bernanke’s press conference, scheduled for 18:15 GMT.  The movement in currencies will depend a lot on the physical gestures of the Chairman. In an interview on 60 Minutes, Bernanke’s voice was trembling – definitely not a good sign.

You can watch it live and follow live coverage of the event here.

The questions presented by journalists attending the presser will also be of high importance.

Further reading: With Which Currency Should You Trade the Fed?