Category Archives: Fed

The US Dollar and Japanese Yen are treading lower against major currencies, but today’s US GDP report may cause the US Dollar to rally. The Euro appears to be giving up some ground. Let’s see how the currency markets are affected after the FOMC meeting today. Japan was closed today for the Showa holiday.

World equity markets are holding steady. In Asia, the MSCI index closed up about 2% today. European markets are up around 1% in this morning’s trading. Early indications suggest that US markets will open slightly higher.

Fed Chairman Bernanke made comments about some improvements in the US economy and some economic data has concurred with his statements. The sentiment is that the downturn in the economy is abating. That message will likely be carried through the FOMC meeting today. Even if there is disappointment that there is not further quantitative easing, the Fed will assure everyone that it will use all of the available tools in its toolbox to address this seemingly prolonged economic crisis.

Some evidence that a global contraction is occuring, can be shown through South Korea and New Zealand, where both countries have reported improvements in exports. Overseas shipments for South Korea have increased by 10% since February of this year. That is quite a bit, considering it makes up over 50% of their GDP. These are perhaps some early signs that the world export market is beginning to stabilize, as are the US and Chinese economies…fxWorldMarkets.