Last night's rate announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve did not spring any major surprises but that didn't stop the dollar gaining against most of the other majors.
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When the news broke that the Fed were not raising interest rates this month you might have thought the market would have remained relatively flat. That was not the case though as the dollar strengthened across the board, pushing GBP/USD down almost a cent to a low of $1.5244.
The announcement left the currency pair at its lowest level since the 13th October and meant the GBP/USD cross had fallen 1.5% in just over week.
So why did the dollar strengthen?
Although the Fed kept rates on hold there was a positive tone to the announcement. In a statement the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said they will continue to watch the global economy and the U.S. labour market for signs of improvement.
The vote showed that only one of the committee members voted in favour of raising the benchmark rate, Jeffery Lacker. While the remaining nine, which included chair women Janet Yellen voted to keep rates on hold.
Despite no action being taken last night the door is still open for the committee to act in six weeks' time when they meet in December. However, time is running out for the central bank to meet expectations of a rate rise this year.
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