The Fed ends a two-day policy meeting
later on Wednesday with markets divided on whether it will take a
hawkish or dovish stance, while some suspect it might chose to do
neither. No move on rates is expected this week.
In
recent congressional testimony, Fed Chair Janet Yellen neither ruled
out a September hike nor guided the market toward thinking it was a done
deal. [ID:nL1N0ZJ0WZ]
"We think the upcoming FOMC statement will reflect this non-committal approach," said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets.
"In other words, there will be no explicit tweak to the guidance signaling a hike is imminent."
At most, the Fed might sound a little more positive on the economy and describe risks to the outlook as balanced rather than "nearly" balanced, Porcelli added.
In currency markets, investors seemed to decide it was safer not to be actively short of the U.S. dollar ahead of the policy statement at 1800 GMT.
That kept the dollar steady at 123.45 yen JPY=, from a low of 123.04 on Tuesday, while the euro softened to $1.1052 EUR=.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was off 0.1 percent at 96.716 .DXY.
In energy markets, oil prices were subdued ahead of official data on U.S. stockpiles.
Brent futures LCOc1 were down 24 cents at $53.06 a barrel and near their lowest since February. U.S. crude futures CLc1 slipped 22 cents to $47.76 a barrel.
"We think the upcoming FOMC statement will reflect this non-committal approach," said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets.
"In other words, there will be no explicit tweak to the guidance signaling a hike is imminent."
At most, the Fed might sound a little more positive on the economy and describe risks to the outlook as balanced rather than "nearly" balanced, Porcelli added.
In currency markets, investors seemed to decide it was safer not to be actively short of the U.S. dollar ahead of the policy statement at 1800 GMT.
That kept the dollar steady at 123.45 yen JPY=, from a low of 123.04 on Tuesday, while the euro softened to $1.1052 EUR=.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was off 0.1 percent at 96.716 .DXY.
In energy markets, oil prices were subdued ahead of official data on U.S. stockpiles.
Brent futures LCOc1 were down 24 cents at $53.06 a barrel and near their lowest since February. U.S. crude futures CLc1 slipped 22 cents to $47.76 a barrel.
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