Market Consensus For The FOMC Interest Rate Decision On Thursday Morning

Xe Corporate APAC

18 marzo 2019 3 min read

The AUDUSD opened at 0.7093 (mid-rate), and The NZDUSD opened at 0.6848 (mid-rate) this morning.

It’s been another subdued start to the trading week, with investors happy to sit on the side lines and waiting for Thursday’s data deluge before positioning their books.

This morning’s Westpac consumer sentiment report, along with the RBA’s monetary policy minutes are likely to be the highlights of our trading day.

US Dollar

Market consensus is that the Federal Reserve will revise their interest rate hike projections downwards on Thursday morning. At their December meeting, the Fed’s “dot plot” which outlines where each committee member expects rates to be at the end of each year, showed members expected the Fed would hike rates another 2 times this year following on from 4 hikes in 2018.

Since the December meeting, and on the back of a sharp fall in headline inflation (consumer price growth has fallen to 1.5% over the past 2 months, well below its 2.0% target) the new FOMC dot-plot forecasts are now expected to indicate no further policy tightening in 2019.

British Pound

The British pound has given back some of its recent gains after UK Prime Minister Theresa May cautioned that the planned Brexit vote due later this week could be delayed. Overnight, Commons speaker John Bercow said he would not allow a third Brexit vote on "substantially the same" motion as MPs rejected last week. He cited a law written in 1604 for not allowing the third "meaningful" vote to move forward.

Global equity markets are mixed, - Dow -0.04, S&P 500 +0.09, FTSE +0.98%, DAX -0.25%, CAC +0.14%, Nikkei +0.62%, Shanghai +2.47%. Gold prices are little changed trading at $1,301 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices have edged higher overnight, up 0.9% trading at $59.03 a barrel.

Mid-market rate

AUDUSD0.70930.2%NZDUSD0.68480.1%AUDEUR0.62610.1%NZDEUR0.60440.0%AUDGBP0.62610.1%NZDGBP0.51750.5%AUDJPY79.010.1%NZDJPY76.280.0%AUDNZD1.03590.1%NZDAUD0.9655-0.1%GBPAUD1.8653-0.6%NZDCAD0.91490.3% GBPNZD1.9324-0.5%
Please contact us for more info about your international payments, or click here to register and save now.

Please Note:
The information, materials, accompanying literature and documentation available on our internet site is for information purposes only and is not intended as a solicitation for funds or a recommendation to trade. XE, its officers, employees and representatives accept no liability whatsoever for any loss or damages suffered through any act or omission taken as a result of reading or interpreting any of the above information.

While we take reasonable care to keep the information on the website accurate and up to date, there may be occasions when this is not possible. Case Studies and articles are not intended to predict future moves in exchange rates or constitute advice.

XE makes no representations, warranties, or assurances as to the accuracy or completeness of any information derived from third party sources. If you are in any doubt as to the suitability of any foreign exchange product that you are intending to purchase from XE, we recommend that you seek independent financial advice first.

For more information about XE, please click here: Regulatory Information