The dollar has weakened this morning following a dovish speech from the New York Federal Reserve President John Williams. He said that central bankers need to ‘act quickly’ as economic growth slows. The markets took this as a signal for an interest rate cut at the end of the month, however a spokesperson for the New York Federal Reserve has since said that Williams was only drawing from ‘academic research’. This follow up remark has caused the dollar to recover slightly.
Today is the last day in a series of speeches from the Federal Reserve, with St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard and Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren speaking this afternoon.
In US-China trade news, Stephen Mnuchin has said that face-to-face talks could follow a phone conversation which took place with Chinese officials yesterday. When asked if an in-person meeting could take place, he said, “It’s possible, but I’m not going to speculate on the outcome.” It is therefore still unclear as to whether we’ll see any progress in the near future.
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