Economics
Yellen Must Brace for More Political Attacks If Hike Is Delayed
- Most economists see a rate increase following the election
- Trump says the Fed ‘is being totally controlled politically’
Nielsen: Fed Acting Like World Is Falling Apart
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Janet Yellen will frame a decision this week to forgo an interest-rate increase as necessary to achieve the Federal Reserve’s economic goals. Donald Trump and his supporters are likely to frame it as political.
That’s because the central bank on Wednesday will also release fresh “dot plot” projections which will probably show policy makers see one quarter-point rate hike by the end of the year. Such a forecast would be widely interpreted as a sign that a hike is coming at the Fed’s December meeting, instead of at the November gathering, which comes a week before the U.S. presidential election and isn’t accompanied by one of the chair’s quarterly press conferences.