Fed Keeps Rates Unchanged, Dollar Rises vs. Euro on Greece

The US dollar gained today versus the euro as the impact of the situation in Greece outweighed the dovish statement of the Federal Open Market Committee.

The FOMC kept the main Federal Funds Rate near zero and said in its statement:

The Committee continues to anticipate that economic conditions–including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run–are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period. The Committee will complete its purchases of $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of this month and will maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its securities holdings.

The US macroeconomic reports this week are expected to be dollar-positive. The durable goods orders rose by 1.6 percent in May, according to analysts’ estimate ahead of the government report on June 24, following the drop by 3.6 percent in April. Economists expect that the report about the gross domestic product will show the growth by 1.9 percent.

EUR/USD dropped from 1.4410 to 1.4323 today as of 22:11 GMT. USD/JPY advanced from 80.28 to 80.34, following the drop to 80.00.

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