Daily Alert: Fed kicks off Super Thursday by signalling 50bps of hikes by 2023
The US Federal Open Market Committee kept its key policy settings broadly unchanged, holding its policy interest rates in a 0.0% to 0.25% range and maintaining QE at a USD120bn monthly pace.
However, what caused a stir in markets was the admission by the Fed that the period of ultra-low interest rates was unlikely to continue forever, considering the brighter signs in the US economy.
Market reaction to the Fed was swift, particularly in the Treasury market; the USD index jumped after the Fed announcement pushing the NZD down by close to 1 US cent.