Wall Street benchmarks remain robust despite FOMC minutes

Wall Street dropped on the FOMC minutes, but stage partial and staggered recovery managing to close at record levels for another session in a row.

FOMC Minutes: Policymakers thought a rate hike "might be"appropriate "fairly soon"

The FOMC minutes were the event of the day that investors had been holding out for although the stock markets were ahead of themselves having made session highs before the event. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, or 118.95 points, to finish at a record 20,743.00 and an eighth consecutive day of closing records. The Dow has been trading robustly bullish for the longest winning streak since July 20, 2016. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index rose by 0.6% to finish at a record 2,365.38, a gain of 14.22 points.The Nasdaq Composite Index gained added 27.37 points, or 0.5%, to close at a record 5,865.95.

Analysts at Westpac explained that US 10yr treasury yields initially fell from 2.45% to 2.39% but completely retraced during the NY session, adding, "The FOMC minutes caused another reversal, the 10yr at 2.41% as we write."

The US dollar is around 0.2% softer and US Fed fund futures implied rates are now slightly lower, as noted by the analysts at Westpac, explaining that the April contract at 0.71%, implying around a 35% chance of a rate hike in March. "FOMC member Powell said March is on the table, while the FOMC minutes said a rate hike would be appropriate “fairly soon”."

Economic Wrap: FOMC minutes were not signalling March - Westpac