Tag Archives: Fed preview

Policy makers’ forecast for rate hikes this year likely to be raised, but central bank will be much more cautious on view further out.The Federal Reserve’s 12-13 June meeting takes place amid a strong economic backdrop at home, and the Fed is unlikely to hesitate about hiking rates by another quarter-point to a range of 1.75-2.00% this week. The US labour market is particularly solid: the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8% in May, the lowest rate since April 2000. The three-month average gain...

This week’s Fed meeting will likely to see a rise in Fed policy makers’ forecasts for 2018 growth and rates.The Federal Reserve meets on 20–21 March and is widely expected to hike rates by a quarter point (moving the interest rate on excess reserves up to 1.75%). This decision is ‘priced in’ at 100% according to Bloomberg data.The focus will be on signals for further tightening in the rest of the year, especially as there will be plenty of materials to consider (including a fresh ‘dot plot’...