Russia – Ukraine peace talks slowed amid failure to reach an agreement.Fed’s Bullard, Waller, and Kashkari crossed the wires.GBP/USD erased some of earlier weekly losses after the decided to increase borrowing costs for the third time, in the same number of monetary policy meetings, since December of 2021. At the time of writing, the GBP/USD is trading at 1.3176.
Late in the New York session, US President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a videoconference reunion. China expressed its posture on the Russia-Ukraine conflict to the US. Chinese President Xi said that the invasion “is not something we want to see” and that “the events again indicate that countries should not come to the point of meeting on the battlefield.”
The first official to cross the wires was St. Louis Fed President Bullard, who dissented in the meeting because he wanted the Fed to follow a balance sheet reduction plan, alongside a 50 bps increase. In the same tone, Fed’s Waller commented that the US central bank should consider a 50 bps rate hike at a certain point, while added that he expects to begin QT by July.