Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's task is growing more intractable every day. And believe it or not, Friday's jobs report featuring a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.9 percent has made it only more difficult.
Back in December, encouraged by labor market gains and solid economic data, her policymaking committee raised interest rates by 0.25 percent, the first hike since 2006. What followed has been an embarrassment: Global financial market turmoil, a wipeout in crude oil prices, a stalling U.S. economy and a collapse in bond market expectations about inflation and rate hikes.
The Fed's December rate hike forecast fingered four quarter-point increases in 2016. However, the futures market assigns only a 50 percent chance of any rate hikes this year. As Yellen heads into her semi-annual testimony to Congress on Wednesday, it's an understatement to say she faces a difficult policy environment.
Whether she can navigate it successfully will determine the path of stock prices, oil prices, the dollar, job growth and the strength of GDP growth in the months to come.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/janet-yellen-is-finding-herself-increasingly-fenced-in/
Back in December, encouraged by labor market gains and solid economic data, her policymaking committee raised interest rates by 0.25 percent, the first hike since 2006. What followed has been an embarrassment: Global financial market turmoil, a wipeout in crude oil prices, a stalling U.S. economy and a collapse in bond market expectations about inflation and rate hikes.
The Fed's December rate hike forecast fingered four quarter-point increases in 2016. However, the futures market assigns only a 50 percent chance of any rate hikes this year. As Yellen heads into her semi-annual testimony to Congress on Wednesday, it's an understatement to say she faces a difficult policy environment.
Whether she can navigate it successfully will determine the path of stock prices, oil prices, the dollar, job growth and the strength of GDP growth in the months to come.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/janet-yellen-is-finding-herself-increasingly-fenced-in/
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