U.S. central bank likely to raise interest rates today

The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates on Wednesday, exactly seven years after the central bank cut them to nearly zero in response to the deepest recession in the post-World War II era.

America’s central bank looks set to raise interest rates today seven years after they were slashed to near-zero during the financial crisis.

The Dow was up as much as 165 points in early trading, though it has since given up the early gains and was only about 35 points in more recent trading.

There are 10 Fed members who now vote on what interest rates should be. Still, the timing of the Fed’s move wasn’t a big factor in his decision. We just needed to have it happen once.

It’s where each Fed member gets to put 1 black dot on where he or she thinks interest rates will be at the end of 2016, the end of 2017 and the end of 2018.

“The 2.4% number showed that although we have seen some strong wage growth of late, earnings are still not moving consistently enough in the right direction, yet again reaffirming the Bank of England’s stance that we are not ready for rate rises in the United Kingdom”, said James Hughes, chief market analyst at GKFX, in a note.

Eight years after a devastating recession opened an era of loose USA monetary policy, the Fed on Tuesday began a two-day meeting at which it is expected to turn in the other direction and raise rates in an increasingly normal economy.

In arguing that it is time for a rate increase, Gagnon pointed out that employment growth has been steady throughout the year, but Ubide said without a pickup in inflation the Fed could hold off on raising rates. A delay in raising rates would likely lead to “abrupt tightening” that risks disrupting financial markets, she said in a December 2 speech in Washington. Should the economy stumble, the Fed could postpone further rate increases.

“Currently, the market assigns approximately 80% probability of a hike, which gives the impression of a done deal”. Oil dropped 2% on Wednesday to around $36.50 a barrel. The two biggest junk-bond ETFs surged by the most in almost a year, stemming a rout that’s seen three high-yield funds halt cash redemptions as investor demand drained their liquid assets.

Since then, the USA stock market has staged a spectacular bull-run, with the S&P 500 index more than doubling and the Nasdaq composite briefly breaching its dotcom boom highs. The last time the central bank raised rates was June 2006. It was highest level since 2009.

Gold and the dollar typically move in opposite directions, which means if the dollar goes up, gold futures will fall as gold, measured by the dollar, becomes more expensive for investors. GBP to CHF Exchange Rate Trading around 1.4914The SWISS FRANC (currency: CHF) was heavily downsold a month ago – a move which sent the Pound Franc exchange rate down to a near-term high at 1.55.