BARC now ex-rights. Rights trading at 96p implying underlying BARC at 305p v close of 299.1p yesterday......

MPC Asset Purchase Facility Votes 0-0-9 0-0-9 0-0-9

MPC Official Bank Rate Votes 0-0-9 0-0-9 0-0-9

Morning All.

Fed likely to reduce bond buying, pass policy milestone

WASHINGTON | Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:55am BST
(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to begin its long retreat from ultra-easy monetary policy on Wednesday by announcing a small reduction in its bond buying, while stressing that interest rates will remain near zero for a long time to come.

Most economists expect the Fed to scale back its monthly purchases by a modest $10 billion, taking them to $75 billion and signaling the beginning of the end to an unprecedented episode of monetary expansion that has been felt worldwide.

USD Building Permits 0.92M 0.95M 0.95M

USD Housing Starts 0.89M 0.93M 0.90M

Midday Market Overview

Sorry late. Network went down... :(

USD Crude Oil Inventories -4.4M -1.2M -0.2M

FTSE100 ends modestly lower ahead of Fed announcement