Lead Capital Partners: The minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) have shown that concerns over the outcome of the then looming British referendum on its membership of the European Union and concerns about US job creation prompted policymakers to leave the Fed Funds rate unchanged.
The June 14-15 meeting which took place ahead of the June 23 UK referendum and showed broad-based unease with the margin of the projected outcome. Two misses on nonfarm payrolls in May and April also weighed on policymaker’s minds and the FOMC decided it would be prudent to wait before moving on interest rates.
David Eckhart, Chief Market Strategist at Lead Capital Partners said, “This is pretty much what we expected to hear from these minutes. The upshot is that they point to a dovish tone from the central bank but I think that the proof of the pudding will come in the next nonfarm payrolls data. Another miss will effectively put paid to any further rate hikes in 2016.”
Lead Capital Partners says it has been telegraphing its view on the trajectory for US interest rates to clients since the end of 2015 warning that they should position themselves for monetary policy stimulus and not expect the Fed to raise interest rates more than once.
“The narrative has completely changed. People are talking about rate cuts, not hikes and there’s a distinct belief that the Fed may be forced to revive its quantitative easing program before the year is out,” said Eckhart.

About Lead Capital Partners:
Lead Capital Partners is an independent investment management practice founded on the philosophy that an active, opportunistic and adaptable approach to investing provides our clients with the best chance for the realization of long-term positive returns irrespective of prevailing market environments.
It is our firm belief that the “buy and hold” investment strategy that has traditionally served investors to such great effect over the decades can, now, lead to significant losses in bear markets, or to little or no profit in markets that persist in trading in ranges unless they are actively managed by seasoned professionals such as those at Lead Capital Partners.