Very Quiet Ahead Of FOMC

San Francisco (Mar 18)  The Forex market has gone “very, very quiet,” writes newsletter writer Dennis Gartman on Wednesday, ahead of the second day of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings in Washington.

“The obvious concern is what the Fed shall do in regards to the single word “patience,” says Gartman.

 He notes that the word has “worn thin,” and it is expected to be dropped from the Fed’s wording.

  “There shall be all sorts of rhetorical flourishes in today’s communique, and Dr. Yellen shall emphasize again and again that the FOMC reserves the right to tighten, or to hold policy steady, or even to perhaps ease further, should economic conditions warrant, but by the very definition of the calendar the Committee has moved closer to lift-off,” Gartman notes.

 In his commentary, Gartman explains that while the dollar is not the Fed’s main concern, it should be given the dollar’s “severe” strength. “[T]he dollar’s sharp ascent has been, for all intents, a material tightening of monetary policy as it weighs heavily upon the fortunes of U.S. export oriented companies.

 On the commodities front, Gartman says that commodity prices like the U.S. dollar are “marking time,” as they await the FOMC decision this afternoon. “[T]he average of the two broad commodity market indices marked here each day has risen ever-so-slightly,” Gartman explains.

Source: KitcoNews