The Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates for the first time in June, given the weak March payroll data combined with an expected deceleration in growth in the first three months of the year, economists said. “I think it raises the bar on June pretty high, it makes it pretty hard to see how you get there,” said Lewis Alexander, chief U.S. economist at Nomura. Job growth slumped to a 15-month low in March, the Labor Department reported Friday. Various tracking models used by economists show growth in gross domestic product slowing sharply to around or under a 1% annual rate in the first quarter. ... (full story)