INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Federal Reserve is all but sure to leave interest rates unchanged this week, though steady economic growth and inflation pressures will
likely keep the Fed on a path toward further rate hikes later this year.
The central bank is meeting as its board is undergoing a makeover,
conservatives who would favor a faster tightening of credit.
The Fed does seem inclined to continue raising rates modestly this year to
reflect a steadily improving economy and to keep inflation pressures under control
But few analysts expect any aggressive pickup in the pace of rate hikes
trying to take the middle ground, and the committee continues to believe that the middle ground consists of further gradual increases in the
from House Republicans over its decision to pursue a bond purchase program designed to lower long-term borrowing rates and to leave its key
rate at a record low near zero for seven years
The critics charged that those policies would eventually produce destructive bubbles in the prices of stocks and other assets and,
raising rates in December 2015, the pace has been modest and gradual: One quarterpoint rate increase in 2015, one in 2016, three in 2017 and
range of 1.5 to 1.75%.
When the Fed announced its most recent rate hike last month, it forecast that it would raise rates twice more this
hikes that appears similar to the cautious one Yellen pursued.
Two weeks ago, Trump announced the nomination of Richard Clarida, a Columbia
That choice was seen as providing specialised expertise for Powell, who is not an economist.
