Thursday 1st August 2019

Jerome Powell said the Fed’s actions today were well telegraphed, yet there was some short-term market reaction during his press conference – equities fell, bond yields rose and the dollar climbed. Phil Dobbie asks NAB’s Gavin Friend why the moves? It’s all to do with Powell’s commentary on future moves. The Aussie dollar gained some ground on the back of better than expected inflation numbers and a slight bounce in Chinese manufacturing activity. And the pound bounced back a little today, but that doesn’t change the fundamental direction of travel on Brexit.