| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 07:00 | United Kingdom | PSNB, bln | January | -6.45 | 18.4 | 17.62 |
USD appreciated slightly against most of its major counterparts in the European session on Wednesday as investors waited for the release of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting minutes later in the day.
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), measuring the U.S. currency's value relative to a basket of foreign currencies, edged up 0.07% from the previous close to 104.15.
The minutes from the Fed's January 30-31 policy meeting will be released at 1900 GMT, and markets expect it to shed more light on the U.S. central bank's view on the further path of its interest rates.
In recent weeks, investors have shifted their expectations for the timing of the first rate cut by the Fed from March to June as several policymakers of the U.S. central bank warned markets against excessive bets on policy easing this year, and economic data confirmed the reasonability of those warnings.
Presumably, the minutes may echo recent remarks from Fed officials suggesting they will reduce the interest rates this year, but only after they have greater confidence that inflation is slowing sustainably to the target of 2%.