FED Remained the Rate Unchanged With the Prediction to Stay Near Zero For the Next 3 Years

US FED decided to leave the rate unchanged with the forecast to stay near zero for the next 3 years with an idea is to help the economy to rebound. FED Chairman Jay Powell also confirmed that central bank will continue to purchase large volumes of securities. In its statement, FOMC is aimed to strengthen the labor market and get the inflation “to moderately exceed” its 2% target for some time. Indices ended the day lower – S&P lost 0.5% while Nasdaq closed 1.3% lower. The yield on 10Y USTs gained 2 bps to 0.69%. Elsewhere, Snowflake shares doubled their price in the first day of trading – it was the largest IPO ever for a US software company.

Asia-Pacific stocks are trading lower this morning following Wall Street. CSI is down by 0.8%, Hang Seng dropped by 1.7%.

Oil continued its rebound on Wednesday supported by surprisingly decreased US oil inventories (-4.30M vs +1.27M expected). Brent rose 4.2% to USD 42.2 per barrel while WTI gained even more – 4.9%.

The MinFin held three OFZ auctions yesterday, sold a total of RUB 164 bn bonds – RUB 115.2 bn of RFLB 26 FRN, RUB 23.5bn of RFLB 6 27 and RUB 25.7 bn of RFLBI 28. RUB traded flat, closed 0.1% higher at 74.93 vs USD. Russian Eurobonds traded slightly higher on the lack of liquidity; long end bonds added .375-.5 points in price.

On SSA front, the IMF decided to increase the loan to Angola to USD 4.5 bn in total (with an immediate disbursement of USD 1 bn) vs USD 3.7 bn previously to help the country to cope with effects of the Covid pandemic as well as the plunge in oil prices. The news came after the end of trading day. During the day we saw African bonds traded higher – ANGOL bonds added .75-1.25 point, NGERIA gained 0.25-0.625 points, GHANA appreciated by .125-.25 along the curve.