The minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s July meeting issued on Wednesday, August 18th, which kept monetary policy unchanged and maintained the current low interest rates, showed that there is a consensus among the members of the US Federal Reserve that the US economy is recovering strongly and is close to achieving the bank’s target for employment and price stability, and that Growth is expected to remain strong in the second half of the year, while concerns about rising inflation remain high.
The minutes indicated that there is a great desire by the members of the US Federal Reserve to start reducing the pace of bond purchases before the end of this year, while emphasizing that there is no relationship between starting to reduce purchases amounting to 120 billion dollars per month and the process of raising interest rates, as the minutes emphasized that the timing of raising interest rates depends on the path The economy has nothing to do with bond purchases, while it is expected that the pace of bond purchases will be gradually reduced until they are completely completed.
The minutes also showed the members’ concerns about the uncertainty about the delta parameter, as it is expected that their view on reducing the bond pace will be changed if the impact of the new parameter is strong on achieving the US Federal Reserve’s goals.
The US dollar recorded declines in the initial reaction after announcing the minutes, to test levels of 92.90 before rebounding by the end of the session, and trading at a higher level this Thursday morning by more than 0.30% at levels of 93.44.
Gold, in turn, loses this morning, Thursday, before the European markets open, about 0.50%, trading at levels of $1.778 per ounce, affected by the rise of the US dollar, after it was close to testing the levels of $1800 before the US Federal Reserve minutes.