{"id":31781,"date":"2015-12-22T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/?p=31781"},"modified":"2015-12-22T04:00:24","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T03:00:24","slug":"31781","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/31781\/","title":{"rendered":"Incremental Interest Rate Hikes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Matthews writes: \u00a0Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said the central bank\u2019s commitment to a \u201cgradual\u201d tightening suggests interest rates could be raised at every other meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, though the actual pace will depend on incoming economic data.<\/p>\n

The Fed said it expected the pace of future tightening to be gradual. Lockhart voted in favor of the statement that announced the quarter percentage point increase in the target range for its benchmark federal funds rate to 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent.<\/p>\n

Policy makers separately forecast an appropriate rate of 1.375 percent for the rate at the end of 2016, implying four quarter-point increases in the target range next year, based on the median projection from 17 officials.<\/div>\n

The \u201dimportant point\u201d is the pace will depend on \u201chow the economy performs,\u201d Lockhart said. \u201cIt will be gradually, but data dependent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Solid\u2019 Economy<\/h3>\n

The rate hike reflects a \u201dsolid\u201d outlook for the economy, with inflation likely to move toward the Fed\u2019s 2 percent goal after the temporary drags from lower oil prices and a stronger dollar end, Lockhart said.<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s move ended a seven-year era of ultra-easy Fed monetary policy after officials reduced rates to nearly zero in December 2008 to help the economy recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression.<\/p>\n

Manufacturing could benefit as global conditions improve, he said, adding that growth in China has stabilized and Europe seems to be picking up.<\/div>\n
\"US<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Matthews writes: \u00a0Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said the central bank\u2019s commitment to a \u201cgradual\u201d tightening suggests interest rates could be raised at every other meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, though the actual … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-banks","category-finance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t