Archived IMT (2010.02.19)

Another Friday, another central bank knocks Greece off the headline as the Fed raises its discount rate. Sticking to the script from Bernankes last speech, the next Fed move will likely consist of paying interest on reserves, and not raising the Fed funds rate. Bernanke will use next week's semiannual monetary policy testimony to tone down any overshoot in short term yields by reiterating exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period, but that will likely fail in dissuading USD bulls, especially as the ECB stays put. Any GBPUSD recovery is now seen capped at $1.5480 and $1.5530 before renewed testing of $1.5320 re-emerges. USDJPY seen testing 91.40.