Inflation is well below the Fed’s 2% target and barely stirring. Yet Federal Reserve officials have insisted they intend to raise interest rates on Wednesday. What gives? The answer is that, the central bank’s goal with interest-rate policy is to engineer “moderately” tighten financial conditions, said Ethan Harris, global economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. It hopes that raising the yield curve will create a modest restraint on growth, allowing the expansion to continue at a steady pace and avoid overheating which may cause the central banks to slam on brakes and push the economy into a downturn. So far, the ... (full story)