Janet Yellen, a key member of the Federal Reserve, has effectively put markets on notice that US base rates are likely to increase after the next two day meeting which starts on 14 March. This is not the first time the Fed has looked to spoonfeed the market information ahead of a base rate change but this is perhaps the most blatant. The suggestion is that employment and inflation continue to evolve “in line with expectations, in which case a further adjustment of the Federal funds rate would be appropriate”. As a consequence, the main US indices began to run out of steam towards the end of the week although they still finished the week moderately positive. Read full article
