Markets soar on Federal Reserve minutes leak

Global markets soared on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve inadvertently released minutes from its latest policy meeting five hours earlier than planned.

The minutes were mistakenly sent to a host of banks and legislative staff members on Tuesday afternoon, including large banks such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. They revealed officials considered scaling back stimulus efforts earlier than expected if economic conditions continue to improve. The stimulus programme was the subject of debate within the Fed - the minutes said a "number" saw tapering of the Fed's purchase of $85bn in Treasury and mortgage assets by the middle of the year, and several saw a halt to the QE program by year end. The central bank but also r...