GBP rose against the U. S. dollar after FED’s decisions

Britain’s FTSE index has been up by 0.2%, while sterling rose 0.8% versus the U. S. dollar to USD 1.37.
The Bank of England on Thursday kept monetary policy unchanged and downgraded economic growth projections for the third quarter of 2021.
European investors are still digesting signals and comments by the U. S. Federal Reserve which indicated on Wednesday that it does not see a looming move back from the monetary stimulus that has been set in place to support the U. S. economy during the coronavirus pandemic.
“If progress continues broadly as expected, the Committee judges that an adjustment of the speed of asset purchases may soon be warranted,” the Fed’s post-meeting statement said.
The U. S. central bank has been buying $120 billion a month of Treasury Bills and mortgage-backed securities since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis.
The Federal Open Market Committee unanimously voted to keep short term rates anchored nearer to zero and FED’s members were still split on the timing of the first interest rate hike.
Wednesday’s so-called dot plot of projections showed nine of the 18 FOMC members expect a rate increase in 2022, up from seven in June’s Fed projections.