Fed move fails to sway contrarian economist

New York

IN the spring of 2014, Mizuho Securities USA's chief economist Steven Ricchiuto planted his flag for the projected date of the Federal Reserve's first post-crisis rate hike in mid-2016, further into the future than any of his peers.

And he never budged. Virtually alone among major Wall Street house economists at the time, Mr Ricchiuto was sceptical of the conventional wisdom that liftoff would happen by the end of 2015. He argued that even a modest rise in rates would slow an economy dogged by inconsistent growth and drive inflation further below the Fed's own target.