Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 3.75 points, or 0.08 percent, on volume of 15,271 contracts.
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Dudley, a permanent voting member and a close ally of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, said a rate hike as soon as September was possible given evidence of wage gains and a tighter labor market.
Near-term risks low: The minutes suggested that most Fed members saw that the near-term risks to the United States economy were diminishing.
Stocks in the United States are heading for a flat market open on Thursday, focusing on speeches by Federal Reserve (Fed) officials and the Philly Fed manufacturing index. “That said, I still think the market might be underpricing the chance of a rate increase this year”.
Gold prices fell 0.6% yesterday to $1,337.22 on the release of minutes from the U.S. Fed’s July meeting, which showed Fed officials expected an interest rate hike soon but were still awaiting more data.
Their remarks helped push the odds of a rate hike at the December 2016 meeting up to 50.3% before the minutes were released, according to pricing on Fed funds futures from the CME’s Fed Watch tool. The dollar also weakened against the British pound, which was threatening earlier this week to test the three-decade low it hit last month on worries United Kingdom data this week could provide the first proof of economic damage from the Brexit vote.
Asian stocks edged up early on Thursday (Aug 18) and the USA dollar fell after the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes showed policymakers were in no hurry to add to U.S. borrowing costs.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day with a 0.8 percent slide from the previous close.
Speculation that central banks in the world’s biggest economies will remain accommodative amid uneven growth propelled global equities to a one-year high this month and sent the dollar tumbling.
In late NY trading, the euro rose to 1.1354 dollars from 1.1291 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.3152 dollars from 1.3056 dollars. The figure for May was revised to 24,000 from 11,000 and the June figure was revised to 292,000 from 287,000.
Japanese manufacturers’ mood soured in August to its lowest since 2013 when the central bank embarked on aggressive monetary easing, a Reuters poll showed, reflecting the pain caused by a rising yen and highlighting the huge task facing policymakers to generate growth.
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The Fed remains on hold as it awaits more data.
