The dollar was mixed Thursday after the Federal Open Market Committee signaled there are higher chances of a rate hike by the end of the year, as it will monitor the international environment.
Federal Reserve officials said following their two-day meeting in Washington that they will consider tightening policy at their next meeting in December, without making a commitment to move this year, as the economy continues to expand at a “moderate” pace.
Although the jobs pace has been slower, “labor market indicators, on balance, show that underutilization of labor resources has diminished since early this year,” the FOMC said in a statement Wednesday.
The Fed dropped a line from September’s statement saying that global
economic and financial developments “may restrain economic activity
somewhat,” saying yesterday that the regulator will be monitoring the
international situation.
There is also a
probability of raising borrowing costs “at its next meeting” based on
“realized and expected” progress in reaching targets, officials added.
“The Fed is сlearly signaling that the default plan is to raise rates
in Deсember,” said Dean Maki, chief economist at Point72 Asset
Management in Stamford, Connecticut.
“It signals that something needs to prevent them from hiking in Deсember rather than that something needs to happen for them to raise.”
The dollar was struggling to find a direction Thursday with EUR/USD last seen at 1.0937, up 0.12%.
GBP/USD dipped 0.08% to 1.5254, while the yen was higher with USD/JPY dipping to 120.78, down 0.26%.
The dollar was 0.04% lower against the Swiss franc at 0.9940.
