The FED was forced to release the minutes of their latest meeting earlier than normal today after it was learned the minutes were leaked to about 100 congressional staffers yesterday afternoon a little after 2 pm.Â
The FED has asked to SEC and CFTC to investigate this.As for the minutes themselves, FED policy makers are concerned about possible risks to the stability of the financial system if the present policies continue too much further into the future.
The minutes also stated that the economic data being released is better than expected,, but the jobless rate remains elevated.The main focus of these minutes is that a number of governors are interested in either ending or slowing down the amount of QE during the year.What traders will be watching is when Chairman Bernanke becomes one of the members of the FOMC joining this discussion. At the present he has not stated that opinion.Currencies are trading close to their pre-announcement levels.EUR is just bellow 1.3100, but all eyes now are focused on the USD/JPY, which is ever so slowly creeping towards the 100.00 level.As the FOMC minutes release fade into the past, traders will now focus on earning results as first quarter earnings for JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo are released on Friday.
