Fed's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced its latest monetary policy decision today at 7:00 pm BST. As was widely expected, interest rates were left unchanged, with Fed Funds rate staying 5.25-5.50% range. Statement noted that in recent months there has been 'some' further progress to 2% inflation goal, while June's statement said there was 'modest' progress. Fed also said that it is attentive to risk on both sides of dual mandate, while June statment said that it is highly attentive to inflation risks, signalling that it now also pays bigger attention to jobs market.

As such a decision was widely expected and there were no major changes to the statement, market reaction to the announcement was limited. Market moves show a slightly hawkish reaction - USD gained slightly, while US indices and gold moved lower. However, scale of the moves was small.

Attention now turns to Fed Chair Powell's press conference, which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm BST. Traders will look for hints whether September rate cut is a done deal as money markets suggest or not.

USD gained slightly after FOMC decision, with EURUSD moving around 0.1% lower. Source: xStation5