Fed's dilemma: To raise or not to raise interest rates now

Washington

DESPITE the slight rise in the unemployment rate, the American labour market continued its upward trend in May, according to figures released by the US Labor Department on Friday, which reported that the economy added 280,000 jobs last month.

But the expectation in Washington and Wall Street is that the better-than-expected job numbers are unlikely to push the US Federal Reserve officials to decide to raise interest rates during their policy meeting this month, and that a rate hike may have to be postponed until early next year. The Federal Open Market Committee meets on June 17.