The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s 2 pm statement barely ruffled interest rate markets. If anything the FOMC members sounded a bit more dovish than at their last meeting, observing that growth in consumer spending had moderated. But the US dollar did a whipsaw round trip. The euro fell to 1.950 before the meeting, then spiked to 1.203, and turned around again to settle at the day’s low of around 1.94.
Emerging market currencies swung in line with the euro. The Dow-Jones Industrial Average meanwhile was down about 200 points just before the New York close. The market is positioning for tighter monetary conditions in the dollar sphere, and anticipating future Fed action.