FOMC Minutes Preview: Any positive mention of negative rates could dent the USD

Minutes from the scheduled April 28-29 meeting are not expected to provide any new clues to the bank’s future policies but they will be scrutinized for hints to the missing economic and rate projections and discussions of negative interest rates, FXStreet’s analyst Joseph Trevisani briefs. 

Key quotes

“The minutes are likely to have a gloomy cast as the initial jobless claims numbers of the first three weeks of the month that had just outlined the depth of the historic unemployment disaster were fresh and unmitigated.”

“Although there has been considerable public and media speculation that the Fed might be forced to follow fed futures into negative rate territory, Mr. Powell has said that the central bank is not considering negative rates.”

“Any positive mention of negative rates or compliments for European policies could be damaging to the US dollar.”