Fed poised to increase US interest rates

JANET YELLEN is set to raise interest rates again next week as healthy jobs numbers indicate the US economy is not losing any momentum.

Employment rose by 228,000 in November, according to the Department of Commerce’s non-farm payrolls data, beating the expected increase of 195,000. Earnings growth picked up by the smallest of margins with average hourly wages rising 2.5pc on the year, up from 2.4pc previously, but missing forecasts of 2.7pc. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1pc.

“The long-running bull market is showing few signs of abating. Given the continued strong economic data, a solid earnings picture and the pick-up in measures of wage growth, we still expect the Fed to hike rates for the third time this year in a week’s time,” said Kully Samra, UK managing director at Charles Schwab.

That would take the Fed’s interest rate range up to a maximum of 1.5pc.