In a move widely expected by markets, the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates by a further 25bps, marking its third rise since December 2015, as the US economy continues to improve.
Following its two day March meeting, the Federal Open Market committee (FOMC) has increased the Federal Funds Rate in the US to 0.75%-1% up from 0.5%-0.75%. In its forward guidance, the Fed announced it expects to stick to its forecast of three rate increases in 2017. All but one committee member - Neel Kashkari - voted to increase rates again after increasing them to 0.5%-0.75% from 0.25%-0.5% last December. Interest rates moved upwards for the first time since 2006 in December 2015 from lows of 0%-0.25%. Following the news, the US dollar index, which gauges the value against a ba...
To continue reading this article...
Join Investment Week for free
Signup and gain exclusive members-only insights - all free of charge!
- Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
- Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
- Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
- Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
- Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes
