Don't fear a rising dollar

London

THE US Federal Reserve is almost certain to start raising interest rates when the policy-setting Federal Open Markets Committee next meets, on Dec 16. How worried should businesses, investors, and policymakers around the world be about the end of near-zero interest rates and the start of the first monetary-tightening cycle since 2004-2008?

Janet Yellen, the Fed chair, has repeatedly said that the impending sequence of rate hikes will be much slower than previous monetary cycles, and predicts that it will end at a lower peak level. While central bankers cannot always be trusted when they make such promises, since their jobs often require them deliberately to mislead investors, there are good reasons to believe that the Fed's commitment to "lower for longer" interest rates is sincere.