? Fed puts June rate hike on the table leading to selloff in equity

? EUR/USD hits two month low at 1.1180 on hawkish Fed

? S&P 500 visits two-month low, though later recovering for a weekly gain

? Oil prices continue to climb, to USD 47.67 per barrel

In spite of starting the week on the right foot, markets momentum was lost on Wednesday as the FOMC’s minutes from April’s rate announcement revealed that the Fed is more hawkish than speculated. Among other things, the minutes stated that most Federal Open Market Committee members were in the opinion that further growth in the second quarter, a strengthening of the labor market and inflation continuing to rise towards the 2% objective would suffice to justify another rate hike in the upcoming, June 15th, meeting. Some committee members went as far as expressing concern from the “unduly low” likelihood implied by market pricing that such a June rate hike will indeed take place.

The S&P 500 initially gained about half a percentage point during Wednesday’s session, ahead of the minutes. However, the index then saw its level slashed to the start of the day levels, as they were released. It further dipped to indicate as much as a 0.5% intraday loss, about 30 minutes afterwards. The minutes’ wording also proved fairly significant for the bond markets seeing the U.S. 10 year’s yield increase to as much as 1.8852%, after starting the week at 1.6984%. The likelihood derived from the bond market for a June rate hike, additionally, quickly jumped to over 32%, after running at about 4% in previous days. The Greenback itself also strengthened substantially, with EUR/USD going from 1.1316 at the start of Wednesday’s session to ending it at 1.1216. The decrease for the pair extended into Thursday, dipping to as low as 1.1180, a two month record. U.S. bonds paying a higher interest rate also made gold less attractive, leading the metal of kings to trade at around USD 1,258.5 per oz.