The shekel weakened today against the dollar but strengthened against the euro in morning inter-bank trading following Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke statement on bond purchases last night.
The shekel-dollar exchange rate rose 0.56%, compared with yesterday's representative rate, to NIS 3.615/$, and the shekel-euro exchange rate fell 0.37% to NIS 4.797/€.
In international markets, the dollar is traded at $1.326/€ against the euro.
Bernanke said that the Fed will continue buying $85 billion in bonds for the coming few months but will likely stop purchases towards the end of the year. The belief is that Bernanke will reduce the purchases when unemployment reaches 7%, and halt the purchases altogether when the unemployment target is achieved.
The Fed explained yesterday in a press conference and interest rate announcement that the risks to the economy and job market have been reduced since last fall and growth should increase in 2014 after the 2013 slowdown. In 2014 and 2015 the Fed forecasts 3% growth.
The Fed expects US unemployment to fall to 6.5% in 2014 and it stressed that interest rates will remain low while unemployment remains above this threshold.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 20, 2013
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