Economists Question Fed's Gradual Rate-Rise Path After Liftoff
- Almost half in Bloomberg poll see second rate hike in March
- Range of views on when Fed will start shrinking balance sheet
Why the Fed Is Locked In to a Rate Hike
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Economists have given Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen a mission for next week’s press conference: Explain what gradual means.
The Federal Open Market Committee in September projected an interest rate policy path that, including December, averages four interest rate hikes a year through the end of 2018. That’s half the pace of the last tightening campaign, when rates were raised by a quarter point every meeting from June 2004 until peaking two years later at 5.25 percent.