Benchmark dollar interbank funding costs hit a new 6-1/2 month high on Wednesday as markets focused on the Federal Reserve's withdrawal of lending programmes even as it pledged to keep rates low for a long time. Minutes from the US central bank's March meeting released on Tuesday suggested interest rates could be held at ultra-low levels for even longer than investors expect if the US economic outlook worsens or inflation drops.
-- Benchmark Euribor up again
But despite the dovish economic assessment, some analysts interpreted the new "extended period" language as signalling the phrase no longer meant a fixed time, paving the way for its removal from the statement. In response to the worst financial crisis in generations, the Fed not only cut short-term interest rates to near zero but also undertook a host of emergency measures aimed at reviving credit markets in the past three years.
The three-month dollar Libor rate fixed at 0.29525 percent on Wednesday. Along with around a 30 basis point rise in 10-year Treasury yields over the last two weeks, that may satisfy those Fed officials who seek monetary tightening for the time being, with the rise in yields also likely to feed through to mortgage rates.
"The tightening in monetary policy that some FOMC members having been leaning towards has already taken place," said IHS Global Insight's Chief US financial economist Brian Bethune. The equivalent euro rate edged lower to 0.58063 percent, but the same maturity Euribor rate rose slightly again as the market readied itself for Thursday's European Central Bank meeting.
Euribor interbank rates began to tick up from record lows last week after banks took far less cash than expected at the ECB's last offering of 6-month funds. Investec economist David Page said that even if the ECB intends to over supply money market for some time yet, demand for shorter-maturity funds may not be there, risking a "significant reduction" in liquidity as 442 billion euros of 1-year funds mature at the end of June.
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