The Dow opened about 20 points down from the closing bell yesterday on news that the discount rate for emergency bank lending was going up a quarter point. But after falling a bit more the stock market has rebounded as a whole. Meanwhile the dollar was trading up on the news, since the move from the Fed signals the increasing awareness of inflation concerns in the corridors of America’s monetary power. The dollar has had a good past few weeks, as the growing turmoil in Europe over sovereign debt (particularly in Greece) has shown cracks in the euro and put into question the euro’s ability to one day replace the dollar as the global currency of choice.
See here for more on the Fed’s rate cut yesterday.