Nikkei rose (1,23%) today on expectations that the FED will maintain its easy money policy for the next months. Europe is up today, and Copper jumped 0,9% extending the longest streak since July 24. Gold is trading at $1354,30.
FED started its meeting yesterday and will release a conclution later today. It is expected that the FED will continue the bond-buying campaign into 2014, and they will announce its policy decision at 2 p.m today. The FED has held interest rates near zero since 2008. They have quadrupled the size of its balance sheet to $3,7 trillion. All this with three rounds of bond buying.
It is expected that the FED will keep buying bonds at an $85 billion monthly pace until march next year. If Yellen win confirmation from the Senate, it goes the way people think. She will probably face tough questions from the Republicans who is critical of the Fed`s ultra-easy monetary policy, which is risky for the financial stability and for the future inflation.
The shutdown has slowed down the economy in Q4, and it will be interesting to see the numbers of months of economic data that may convince the FOMC that the recovery is continuing at a solid pace.
The FED conclusions today is important, but I will also look for Facebook earnings today. The traffic on the nr. 1 website in this social media business is expanding. So are the advertising, and so should the number. They could reach $100 billion in sales in the next five years.
Surprisingly, Pinterest drives more traffic to publishers than Twitter. Facebook, and it is undoubtly the best, nearly doubled its traffic since 2012. Forget the rest. Google+, LinkedIn, Youtube and other sosial media is a flop so far.
News today: ADP non-farm Employment change at 8:15am, Core CPI m/m at 8:30am, FOMC statment at 2:00pm.
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