Pressure is building from within the US Fed for Janet Yellen to raise rates
Atlanta — Policy makers at the Federal Reserve are becoming increasingly divided under chairwoman Janet Yellen. Members of the interest-rate setting Federal open market committee have dissented 7.7% of the time since Yellen took the helm in 2014, a figure that includes the three central bankers who wanted to raise rates at the last meeting in September. That is the largest proportion of dissent since Paul Volcker left as chairman nearly three decades ago. A growing divide signals mounting pressure on the US central bank to raise rates for the first time since December, said Vincent Reinhart, chief economist at Standish Mellon Asset Management Company. The dissents "suggest an underlying consensus toward action," said Reinhart, who was a top adviser to former Fed chairmen Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan. "They underscore that a portion of the committee is getting impatient and that action will soon be forthcoming." Common ground Yellen has tried to foster consensus, which can signal ...
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