Oil prices jump while dollar gets hammered after Fed statement
Oil prices jumped as much as six per cent higher while the dollar experienced its biggest single-day decline in six years after the Federal Reserve's policy statement on interest rates.
The benchmark Brent Crude closed at $55.91 a barrel, up $2.40 or 4.5 per cent when it had earlier fallen as low as $42.03 after weekly data showed stockpiles at one of the biggest storage facilities in the US had hit record highs. It extended gains post-settlement reaching $56.84, up $3, or six per cent.
Meanwhile, the dollar tumbled against the pound and the euro by as much as three per cent as the Fed revised down its growth projections for the US economy and its outlook on inflation, giving the greenback its worst day since the beginning of December last year.
The euro hit a two-week high against the dollar, up 2.8 per cent at $1.0898, while the pound rose 1.8 per cent above $1.50 against the dollar.