As was widely expected, the Fed further reduced the pace of its asset purchases. The FOMC upgraded its assessment of economic activity and was more firm in its view that the drag from fiscal policy was diminishing. No mention was made of recent financial market volatility in its statement. Markets continue to expect the Fed to reduce the pace of asset purchases by $10bn per meeting through to September, and a final $15bn in October to conclude QE3.

Despite the move from the Federal Reserve being almost exactly as expected, we have seen GBP/USD falling with the rate hovering just below 1.6500

Yesterday we also had a 0.50% rate increase from the RBSA (Reserve Bank of South Africa), despite this rather significant move, ZAR continues to weaken, with GBP/ZAR at 18.76, the highest it has ever been!

We have a busy day on the economic calendar with German jobs data already released, we have seen EUR firm up a fraction.

Later we have German Inflation data but probably the event of the day will be USD GDP figures at 1 pm today.