Doubts grow about mid-year rate hike, but Fed won’t express any
MarketWatch - Jan 26, 2015
While there are growing doubts among economists that the Federal Reserve will make their first hike in short-term interest rates in June, don’t look for the U.S. central bank to give any hints that it may hold stay a little while longer than expected.
The Federal Open Market Committee will meet for two days beginning Tuesday to set monetary policy for the next six weeks and will release a statement at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. There will be no press conference.
“We think the FOMC will be reluctant to make changes to the statement that might influence expectations for Fed action, particularly when there is no press conference to explain any ‘meaningful’ additions or deletions to the text,†said Michelle Girard, chief U.S. economist at RBS Securities, in a note to clients. Economists at RBS, Goldman Sachs and Wrightson ICAP have pushed their forecast for the first Fed move from June to September.
