Wednesday preview: Fed minutes, PBoC decision in focus

Central banks on either side of the Pacific will be in focus on Wednesday, as the US Federal Reserve releases the minutes of the 29-30 October Federal Open Market Committee meeting and rate-setters at the People's Bank of China meet to decide on policy.

In the case of the Fed, Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK said the market spotlight would be on any clues contained in the meeting minutes about the reasoning behind the apparent pause in the US central bank's interest rate cutting cycle.

"In his post meeting press conference Fed chair Jay Powell went even further by saying that Fed officials saw that the current stance was likely to remain appropriate, in the absence of further deterioration in the data," Hewson said.

As for China, recent soft readings on economic activity had triggered speculation regarding the possibility that further interest rate cuts lay ahead.

Wednesday November 20

INTERIMS

Alpha Financial Markets Consulting, Argentex Group , Creightons, Intermediate Capital Group, Liontrust Asset Management, United Utilities Group

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STM Group

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS

Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)

MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)

Producer Price Index (GER) (07:00)

Q3

Inmarsat

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Brand Architekts Group, Finsbury Food Group, Jupiter US Smaller Companies , Origin Enterprises, Rainbow Rare Earths Limited NPV

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Direct Line Insurance Group

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CBI Industrial Trends Surveys (11:00)

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