Page 54 - Fomc News Today

Commentary Ladieeeeeeeees and gentlemen … Welcome to the throwdown match for the heavyweight championship of the U.S. economy. ...

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said investors need to brace for the Federal Reserve to potentially raise interest rates at all seven remaining policy meetings this year and even for it to hike by more than a quarter point in one go.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he would like to raise interest rates at the central bank’s meetings in March and May but played down the benefits of a larger-than-expected move.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said the central bank could raise interest rates as early as March to fight high inflation, but she cautioned against overreacting and tightening policy too fast.

Bostic stuck to his prediction that three quarter-point increases starting in March is the most likely scenario, though stubbornly high consumer prices may justify a more robust rate rise.

The ringgit is expected to trade in a tight range with downside bias between 4.19 and 4.20 against the US dollar the coming week.

The two biggest U.S. banks raised their forecasts of how quickly the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year, with Bank of America Corp. predicting a move at every meeting to tackle the highest inflation in four decades.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was ready to raise interest rates in March and didn’t rule out moving at every meeting to tackle the highest inflation in a generation.

Triple-A benchmarks were cut two to six basis points across the curve with the largest moves concentrated again on bonds inside 10 years, underperforming Treasuries once again.

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit opened flat against the US dollar today as market sentiment was affected by heightened geopolitical risks in Ukraine and in anticipation of the first lift-off in the United States interest rate, an analyst said.