It Didn’t Happen, No Rate Hike

The Federal Reserve held firm yesterday, keeping the interest rate that has been in place since 2006 in tack.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen pointed to global uncertainty and inflation concerns as her reasons for not putting even the smallest rate hike into place. Insecurity in China was specifically mentioned.

Some analysts concur. According to Scott Clemons, chief investment strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman Wealth Management, “There is enough economic activity to allow the Fed to think about raising interest rates, but there’s not enough inflationary pressure to allow them to do so.”

October? December? March?

Yellen said rates could be raised at the meeting to be held in October, despite the fact that there is no press conference scheduled for that meeting at this time. Most other economists are looking well into 2016 as the first possibility of an increase.

According to RBS, the odds of a December hike fell to 64 percent from 84 percent and market expectations for the first full rate hike are now priced into March.

The markets reacted lethargically, stumbling only a little after the decision, ending the day just slightly below where they started. Dow Jones was down 0.39%, S&P 500 was down 0.26% and Nasdaq was up 0.1%

The FTSE 100 index (the largest blue-chip companies listed in London) fell by 42 points, or 0.7%.

Investors had already factored in a possible stay in the federal funds rate over the last few days when the markets fluctuated and then leveled off.