Thursday 30 January 2014

Fed cuts bond buys, South Africa raises interest rate

The Federal Reserve decided to continue to taper its bond-buying at its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. Bloomberg reports:

The Federal Open Market Committee said it will trim monthly purchases by $10 billion to $65 billion, citing labor-market indicators that “were mixed but on balance showed further improvement” and economic growth that has “picked up in recent quarters”...

The Fed left unchanged its statement that it will probably hold its target interest rate near zero “well past the time” that unemployment falls below 6.5 percent, “especially if projected inflation” remains below the committee’s longer-run goal of 2 percent. Stocks remained lower and Treasuries gained.

Elsewhere, there was surprise action from the South Africa Reserve Bank, which raised its repurchase rate to 5.5 percent from 5 percent on Wednesday.

Despite the actions from central banks, the flight to safety resumed in financial markets on Wednesday as US stocks and emerging market currencies fell while US Treasuries and the yen gained.

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