Wednesday preview: Fed releases minutes of 15-16 December policy meeting

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday releases the minutes of its last meeting, when policymakers decided to raise interest rates for the first time in almost a decade.

The US central bank on 16 December decided to raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 0.5% after a two-day conclave. The market will be closely scrutinising the minutes of the policy meeting for further details on the reasoning behind the decision and any clues on the Fed's next move. The report is due at 1900 GMT.

Fed official John Williams on Monday said he predicts steady increases in interest rates this year so long as the US continues to experience economic growth, improvement in the labour market and a rise in inflation.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's agenda will also include slate of economic data.

Service purchasing managers' index figures on China, the UK, Europe and the US for December will be released.

In the US, a report on factory orders is expected to show a 0.2% drop in November, compared to the previous month's 1.5% increase.

The private payrolls report from ADP is forecast to reveal US employers added 198,000 jobs in December. It comes ahead of the official monthly non-farm payrolls report on Friday.

Wednesday January 06


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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
Factory Orders (US) (15:00)
GDP (Advance) (US) (13:30)
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ISM Services (US) (15:00)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)
PMI Composite (EU) (09:00)
PMI Service (GER) (08:55)
PMI Services (EU) (09:00)
Producer Price Index (EU) (10:00)


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UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
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