After the Federal Reserve announcement, the market has now turned its attention to the Bank of England, which is expected to say at 10.30a.m. that Britain's economic recovery has also lost pace.
"Our expectation is that the August report will present another downbeat view of the economic outlook," said Barclays Capital in a note to investors.
Mirroring the weak state of Britain's economy, sterling lost 0.5% against the US dollar, trading at $1.577. The cost to insure government bonds against a potential default also rose by $1,000 to $62,000, according to data from Markit.
