By David Madden (Market Analyst at Equiti Capital)

By Stuart Cole, Head Macro Economist, Equiti Capital

The mood in equity markets is upbeat following last night’s update from the Federal Reserve. Earlier this month the US central bank hiked interest rates by 50 basis points – meeting forecasts – and last night the minutes from that meeting were released.

Traders are a little optimistic ahead of the release of the minutes from the recent Federal Reserve meeting, where rates were hiked by 0.5%.