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Ahead of Fed & ECB Minutes

Commodity currencies dominate a quiet Wednesday summer session as traders await this evening’s release of the minutes from the Jul 26-27 FOMC meeting.  Recall the dollar fell sharply on that day, partly due to escalating adversity between the White House and Washington as well as the Fed statement itself.

So what did the Fes say on Jul 27? The Committee made two minor changes: i) saying inflation was ‘below’ target rather than ‘somewhat below’; and; ii) that the balance sheet runoff will start ‘relatively soon’ which could mean later than September. Also note that 3 weeks after the Fed decision, July CPI was a miss. Today’s minutes may further enlighten us whether the inflation tweek was a mark-to-market reflection or a possible sign of the Fed’s plan. 

Let’s also not forget tomorrow’s release of the ECB minutes from the Jul 20 meeting/press conference, which triggered broad EUR strength and sharp DAX selling after the ECB was perceived to be largely on course towards curtailing QE. Today’s rally in the DAX and retreat in the euro were spurred by Reuters reports that Draghi will not make any policy-related remarks at next week’s scheduled speech at the Jackson Hole symposium, thus,  allaying (or delaying) worries about any references to a curtailing QE. Yet, this remains a matter of "when" rather than "if".

Ashraf Laidi
Ashraf Laidihttp://ashraflaidi.com/
Ashraf Laidi is an independent strategist and trader, founder of Intermarket Strategy Ltd and author of "Currency Trading & Intermarket Analysis". He is the former chief global strategist at City Index / FX Solutions, where he focused on foreign exchange and global macro developments pertaining to central bank policies, sovereign debt and intermarket dynamics. Ashraf had also served as Chief Strategist at CMC Markets, where he headed a global team of analysts and led seminars and trainings in four continents. His insights on currencies and commodities won him several #1 rankings with FXWeek and Reuters. Prior to CMC Markets, Laidi monitored the performance of a multi-FX portfolio at the United Nations, assessed sovereign and project investment risk with Hagler Bailly and the World Bank, and analyzed emerging market bonds at Reuters. Laidi also created the first 24-hour currency web site for traders and researchers alike on the eve of the creation of the euro. Laidi's analysis of currency markets stand out based on his distinct style in bridging the fundamental and technical aspects of the markets. Laidi regularly appears on CNBC TV (US, Europe, Arabia and Asia/Pacific), Bloomberg TV (US, Asia/Pacific, France and Spain), BNN, PBSs Nightly Business Report, and BBC. His insights also appear in the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and Barrons. He has given numerous interviews and lectures in Arabic, French, and to audiences spanning from Canada, Central America and Asia/Pacific.

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