The surprise of an early release of the FOMC minutes yesterday was the most exciting aspect of the news emanating from the Federal Reserve minutes. The early selective release told us pretty much what we expected it to, with the committee continuing to judge that the benefits of the bond-buying scheme outweighed the likely costs and risks. According to the Investec Economic team, “We maintain their view that Fed members still want to see a more evidence of a self sustaining jobs recovery before thinking about pulling the plug on QE3.” The market reaction was relatively subdued as currencies continue to trade sideways this week, which isn’t such a bad thing for GBP as it has taken the opportunity to consolidate above 1.5300. Sterling also made strides against the euro after dipping to the 1.1680’s yesterday morning. This was on the back of a not so subtle slap on the wrist from the IMF to the Euro-zone for the insufficient pace of its banking reforms. Meanwhile, the Eurogroup meeting scheduled for today poses further risk for the euro as it is rumored that Cypriot bond holders and uninsured depositors could still yet be stung with 10% levies which was the measure that originally caused so much contention. We will watch closely as sentiment appears to be holding up towards the single currency for now due to momentum against the US dollar and inflow of funds in search of better yielding Yen substitutes, with Spanish bond prices at their highest levels since 2010, but there remain plenty of dangers around the corner for the region.