Here’s Thursday’s ‘Just A Minute’ bringing you a 60 second summary of what’s happening in the markets:

Main Trading Event Of The Day: USD Unemployment Claims @ 12.30 GMT; USD Existing Home Sales @ 14.00 GMT

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING TODAY

Dollar Holds Biggest Advance in Seven Months

The dollar held its biggest gain in seven months after Federal Reserve policy makers signaled that they’ll probably raise interest rates by the middle of next year. The dollar was trading at $1.3836 per euro after climbing 0.7 percent yesterday to $1.3833. The Federal Open Market Committee discarded a jobless-rate threshold for considering when to increase borrowing costs and said it will look at a wider range of data. Policy makers also reduced monthly bond-buying by $10 billion to $55 billion and added that it will slow purchases in further measured steps. Fed Chair Janet Yellen indicated a period of around 6 months between the end of the stimulus and the first rate increase. The rally in the U.S. dollar on the notion that U.S. interest rates could rise sooner rather than later may just be getting started, according to strategists and the outlook for the pace of policy tightening is faster than markets have priced in. The Fed’s announcement confirms the view that the rising-dollar trend will accelerate in the six-month to one-year term and that as long as upcoming U.S. economic data confirms the Fed’s confidence that recent weakness in data is related to unusually cold weather, the dollar should head higher. If data disappoints, that could trigger the dollar to unwind some of the gains, but data is expected to start improving and that means the dollar gains should be built on.

Gold Hovers Near 3-Week Low While Stocks End Lower On Fed

Gold hovered near three-week lows on Thursday as the U.S. dollar jumped on expectations the Federal Reserve could end its bond-buying programme later this year, tarnishing the metal’s safe haven appeal as a hedge against inflation. Although concerns about the Ukraine crisis could lend support, the bullion market was suffering from a lack of physical buying from top gold consumer China following a sharp drop in its currency. The market may recover and rally from here but analysts believe the upside will be limited and that gold could still fall back to about $1,300 an ounce. Sentiment was mixed following the move by the Fed to reduce bond-buying which could overshadow the impact from tensions in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, stocks eased off session lows but still finished firmly in the red on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested interest rate hikes would happen about six months after quantitative easing ends. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 114.02 points to close at 16,222.17, initially tumbling nearly 200 points after Yellen’s rate hike comment. The blue-chip index had been trading in a lackluster 50-point range prior to the decision. The S&P 500 declined 11.48 points to finish at 1,860.77 while the Nasdaq fell 25.71 points to end at 4,307.60.

U.S. Existing Home Sales & New Claims For Unemployment Expected To Drop

Pending home sales have reportedly been weaker lately, with a 0.1% increase in January only just offsetting the 5.8% decline in December, suggesting limited momentum for completed sales. With fewer pending contracts in the pipeline, the pace of existing home sales is likely to have remained soft in February. Total housing inventory was up in January, although the number of homes for sale was still low, indicating that constraints on the supply side are also likely to continue to hold back the sales pace.

The number of new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped 9,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 315,000, the best reading since November. Economists expected a rise in claims to a level of 334,000. The four-week average fell 6,250 to 330,500, the lowest since early December with improved weather conditions apparently having contributed to the improvement in the job data. The number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 48,000 to 2.86 million in the week ended March 1, the lowest level since December. A small rise to 327,000 is forecasted.

That sums up today’s highlights! Stay in touch for all the latest financial news. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

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