Powell puts market on notice over heightened risks
US stocks start retreat after Fed chair noted 'elevated' asset prices and threat of trade war
JUBILATION at Jerome Powell's measured tone in his first policy statement as the chairman of the Federal Reserve faded to trepidation as he highlighted worries about global trade in a press conference.
Mr Powell's Fed boosted the benchmark Fed Funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a range between 1.5 per cent and 1.75 per cent. The average central banker's target for the number of expected rate hikes this year remained at three, even as more than one banker raised their individual target to four. Futures markets are already pricing in more than three hikes in 2018.
In a note to clients following the Fed's press statement, economists at Swiss bank UBS argued that the statement was consistent with the view that yields on Treasury bonds - and hence debt payments for the US and major corporations - are set to rise steadily for the foreseeable future.
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