#FED

FED ENDS BOND BUYING, SHOWS CONFIDENCE IN U.S. RECOVERY

 

·         Fed drops reference to labor market slack as ‘significant’

·         Sees soft inflation as transitory

·         Statement doesn’t mention financial turmoil, overseas weakness

·         Investors pull forward bets on when rates will rise

 

 

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday ended its monthly bond purchase program and dropped a characterization of U.S. labor market slack as "significant" in a show of confidence in the economy’s prospects.

 

In a statement after a two-day meeting, the central bank largely dismissed recent financial market volatility, dimming growth in Europe and a weak inflation outlook as unlikely to undercut progress toward its unemployment and inflation goals.

 

"On balance, a range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources is gradually diminishing," the Fed’s policy panel said in an important departure from prior statements, which had described the slack as "significant."

"The committee continues to see sufficient underlying strength in the broader economy," it said.

 

U.S. stocks added to earlier losses after the statement but came back to close down only marginally, while the yield on the 5-year U.S. Treasury note jumped, putting it on track for its biggest one-day increase since mid-March. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was little changed.

The dollar rose to a three-week high against a broad basket of currencies as traders pulled forward expectations of when the Fed would eventually raise interest rates.

 

Rate futures shifted to show better-than-even odds of a rate increase in September 2015; previously, they had pointed to a hike in October. The Fed has held rates near zero since December 2008 and has more than quadrupled its balanced sheet to $4.4 trillion through three separate asset purchase programs.