Greenback eases after Federal Reserve sticks with stimulus
THE DOLLAR drifted off a two-week peak against a basket of major currencies last night after the Federal Reserve stuck to its stimulus programme known as QE3.
Following a two-day meeting, the Fed repeated its vow to maintain rates near zero until mid-2015 and to support growth even as some parts of the economy looked a bit better.
The dollar index retreated from a peak of 80.151 to 79.940, but remained well above last week’s trough of 78.935.
As a result, the euro climb off a near two-week low of $1.2921 to $1.2970.
The Fed “will continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40bn per month,” it said, despite noting that inflation “recently picked up somewhat.”
Only one hawk, Jeffrey Lacker, voted against ongoing QE3.