Ahead of the monthly policy decision from the Federal Open Market Committee this evening, the US dollar strengthened as all the signs are that the FOMC will keep its $85 billion a month bond buying program, commonly known as quantitative easing in place well into 2014 to support the economic recovery, particularly after the 16 day government shutdown earlier this month.
US economic data continues to support this idea and yesterday was again another ‘mixed bag’ of results.
The US Conference Board's consumer confidence gauge for October came in well below expectations but above September’s figure at 71.2. Unsurprisingly, confidence deteriorated as the US government shutdown and debt ceiling stand-off took its toll on consumer sentiment.
Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators said “Consumer confidence deteriorated considerably as the federal government shut-down and debt-ceiling crisis took a particularly large toll on consumers’ expectations. Similar declines in confidence were experienced during the payroll tax hike earlier this year, the fiscal cliff discussions in late 2012, and the government shut-down in 1995/1996. However, given the temporary nature of the current resolution, confidence is likely to remain volatile for the next several months.”
Meanwhile, US producer prices slipped by 0.1% month-on-month and by 0.3% year-on-year in September according to the latest data release out yesterday from the Bureau of Labour Statistics.
Lastly, the US Census bureau reported that US retail sales volumes dropped by 0.1% month-on-month in September, again below market expectations.
In the UK, despite better than expected data as UK mortgage approvals rose beyond what was forecast in October the pound slipped against the majority of the 16 most actively tarded currencies in the market.
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