Dollar firmer after Fed minutes

The dollar has gained some ground following the release of the minutes of the Fed meeting earlier this month, at which interest rates were cut by 25bps for a third time since September. The minutes noted that, while a further reduction in rates was still likely if inflation declined as expected, some members felt it might now be appropriate to keep them “unchanged for some time”. EURUSD and GBPUSD have slipped to around $1.1730 and $1.3435 respectively (the latter down from north of $1.35 at the start of the week), leaving EURGBP a touch firmer at £0.8730. In the main government bond markets, yields ended marginally higher on the day, while in equity markets, European stocks had another positive session, gaining more than 0.5%, but US indices ended lower for a second consecutive session, albeit only marginally so.