The Fed inevitably remains reluctant to pre-commit ahead of policy meetings, but the domestic and international case for a rate increase is stronger than in June, while the bank needs to take advantage of favourable conditions to act. The overall evidence suggests there is strong momentum within the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) to hike at the September meeting. Overall, unless the September employment report is very poor, they will act next month and there will need to be further market re-pricing to reflect this possibility. In a speech on Friday, Fed chair Yellen stated that while economic growth ... (full story)