Federal Reserve’s Meeting
The Federal Reserve will deliver its monetary policy statement at 21:00 MT time on May 3. In March the US central bank lifted the federal funds rate to 1.00%. Analysts see additional interest rate increases this year if there is a firmer set of the US growth and inflation figures. However, at this meeting the Fed might not recourse to another rate hike favoring other tightening measures in its toolbox. The chorus of FOMC members has recently signaled that the central bank will soon reduce the size of its balance sheet that has been growing since the outburst of the financial crisis. Such measure might be perceived as an alternative to rate increases.