The euro traded around $1.07 on Thursday, after the Fed indicated on Wednesday that the balance sheet would be reduced at a slower pace.
“For the time being, nothing will happen to US interest rates after the Fed’s action,” currency trader Paul Erdmann of currency broker Ebury told ABM Financial News on Thursday.
The US Fed left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday evening, as expected, maintaining the level at 5.25 to 5.50 percent. According to the Fed, “no further progress” has been made in bringing inflation back to the central bank’s 2 percent target.
Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the Fed should keep interest rates at a higher level for a longer period of time than previously thought. At the same time, the door to possible increases remains closed, KBC economists noted.
Erdmann van Ebury now sees the focus shifting to the US jobs report for April, which will be released on Friday, for which growth of 240,000 jobs is expected compared to growth of 303,000 a month earlier, with a stable unemployment rate of 3.8 percent and an expected increase of the hourly wage of 4.0 percent.
The euro was less than 0.1 percent lower on Thursday at $ 1.0704. The European currency was also just 0.1 percent lower at 0.8551 British pounds. The British pound was flat at $1.2520.
