Federal reserve officials remained divided over how long they should stick to their ultra-loose monetary policy, according to the minutes of its March policy-setting meeting. Minutes from the Fed’s March 19-20 meeting showed that a number of FOMC participants saw QE tapering around midyear, while others believed it would probably be appropriate to slow purchases later in the year and to stop them by year-end. One member wanted to slow the bond purchases immediately, while two members indicated that the purchases might well continue at the current pace at least through the end of the year. The minutes were released at 9AM Eastern time after it was revealed that they released to Congressional staffers and lobbyists on Tuesday. They were originally scheduled for release at 2PM. Following the release of the data, the USD was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.1% to trade at 1.3065.
EasyForexNews Research Team