Rate Hikes

Growing Number of Fed Banks Lobby for Rate Hikes

written by Michael Lewis on July 12, 2016

At their June meeting, FOMC members, hawks and doves alike, seemed to be in full retreat. In the “dot plot,” every member scaled back their expected future increases in the funds target in the near-, medium- and long-term. The median number of rate hikes expected in 2016, which went from four in the December 2015 dot plot to 2-3 in March 2016, crumpled to barely two +25BP moves expected in June. Many observers, not to mention the Fed futures market, scoffed at the FOMC’s resolve to do even that.