US jobs growth bolsters chance of Fed rate hike June 5, 2015 US JOB growth accelerated sharply in May and wages picked up, signs of momentum in the economy that bolster prospects for an interest rate hike in September. Nonfarm payrolls increased 280,000 last month, the largest gain since December, the Labor Department said yesterday. While the unemployment rate rose to 5.5 per cent from a near [...]
US interest rate hike: Are emerging markets in for a bumpy ride? May 25, 2015 Developing economies are better prepared to withstand higher US interest rates. A slowdown in global trade and investment growth, as well as a fall in commodity prices are dominating the outlook for emerging economies. Major central banks – notably China, India, Indonesia and Turkey – have focused on cutting interest rates to shore up [...]
European markets rise on Fed rate hike caution March 30, 2015 European markets started the day higher, after comments made by US Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen hinted at "gradual" rate rises, reassuring investors. The FTSE 100 opened 0.6 per cent up, while Germany's Dax jumped 1.23 per cent and France's Cac 40 rose one per cent. Investors have showed caution in recent weeks after a [...]
Yellen: Fed will drop the word “patient” before it hikes interest rates February 24, 2015 The US Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee will lose patience before it hikes interest rates, promised Fed boss Janet Yellen today – although she remained cagey about when that would happen. In prepared remarks to the Senate Banking Committee, she suggested there is no "given point" at which the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) will decide [...]
Yellen pledges patient approach before starting to hike rates December 17, 2014 US POLICYMAKERS yesterday voted not to change its policy stance while also saying they would be “patient” before beginning to raise interest rates. The term “considerable time” was ditched from the Fed’s statement. It was initially used to signal how long rates would stay low for after the asset purchase programme ended in October. Instead, [...]
Federal Reserve: US interest rates to remain near zero September 17, 2014 The Federal Reserve has stuck to its pledge to keep interest rates near zero for a "considerable time" after its asset purchase program ends next month. In a statement following the Fed’s Open Market Committee, the US central bank also announced it had sliced a further $10bn from the programme, leaving it with monthly [...]
Fed’s Janet Yellen hints at an early rate rise August 22, 2014 New US Fed chief Janet Yellen raised the prospect of an earlier-than-expected rise in interest rates during her first address to the audience of central bank chiefs at the Kansas City Fed's symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Friday. Yellen, who started her job in February this year, studiously avoided making any commitments to new [...]
Fed chair Janet Yellen defends low interest rates amid concern over frothy prices July 16, 2014 Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen held the line during a grilling from US politicians yesterday, arguing that the economic climate meant that very low interest rates were still appropriate. “If the Fed [and Yellen] is going make a change in rhetoric, it is likelier to come at the September meeting, because that is the next [...]
Federal Reserve’s chair Janet Yellen stays firm on low interest rates July 2, 2014 Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen yesterday stuck by the US central bank’s loose monetary policy, reiterating her view that regulation should be the key tool used to combat financial stability risks. She argued that interest rates should seldom be used to combat risks to financial stability and that doing so to counter the US housing [...]
Yellen: Low rates to stay as labour market still unsatisfactory May 7, 2014 Janet Yellen has today defended the US’s central bank’s accommodative policy, saying it still remains warranted – it’s not rushing to raise interest rates. Giving her testimony to Congress, this is Yellen’s first opportunity to speak following April’s improved jobs figures. Dismissing concerns over growth stangation in the first quarter – which, she said, were [...]