Stronger US economy could spur earlier Fed hike in 2018: survey

Washington

A STRENGTHENING US economy may spur the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates twice in the next 3 1/2 months as a tight labour market pushes risks to the upside, a Bloomberg survey showed.

Median results of the survey of 41 economists, conducted from Dec 5-7, showed economists still expect three rate hikes in 2018 but moved forward one of those projected moves to March from June.

There was near unanimity the central bank will raise the target range for the federal funds rate a quarter percentage point to 1.25 per cent to 1.5 per cent after its two-day meeting starting Tuesday in Washington.

"The unemployment rate has fallen sharply to 4.1 per cent and on top of that we've had two straight quarters of 3…