- Janet Yellen, Fed Chairwoman
Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen reiterated that interest-rate hikes will be slow and gradual in the months ahead due to sluggish growth overseas as well as divergent monetary policies between the US and other nations. In her testimony for Congress' Joint Economic Committee, Yellen said that the Fed is ready to lift rates at the central bank's policy meeting this month as the domestic economy continues to strengthen. However, global setting is giving the Fed pause about acting aggressively beyond that. Yellen also added that the market is close to the Fed's goal of full employment and that drags on inflation will fade next year. Her comments came less than two weeks before the FOMC meets to decide on whether to raise interest rates for the first time in almost a decade. Fed officials hold their next policy meeting December 15-16. They are widely expected to raise short-term interest rates by a quarter-percentage point, from near zero, where they've been since December 2008.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management non-manufacturing PMI showed the US economy excluding manufacturing lost some momentum in November. The gauge declined to 55.9 in November from 59.1 a month earlier.
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