The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged Wednesday at 1.75%, the committee made one other change to its inflation forecast."Inflation on a 12-month basis is expected to run near the Committee's symmetric 2 percent objective over the medium term," the statement said. In March, the committee projected inflation to "move up in coming months," so this week's language indicates more progress toward the inflation goal and stocks edged higher after the announcement.
The dollar index "measures the value of the currency against six major currencies" up to its highest level in the before starting to decline during trading today to be traded near the level of 92.20.
Turning to Australian developments, Australia's trade surplus continued for a third month in March widened to $ 1.527 billion, standing close to its highest level since May 2017. Exports rose 1% because LNG exports jumped by $58 billion. Imports increased by 1% to $ 33.314 billion.
The UK service sector managed to show some recovery in April after it had previously stabilized at a 20-month low on bad but still well below the average for the past two years. This may be due to the pessimistic situation that dominates the companies due to the uncertainty caused by the Brexit. The PMI of the sector, which accounts for 80% of GDP, recorded 52.8 points. After the data, the IHS Markit expects GDP to grow by 0.2% in the second quarter.
