Wall Street's top banks were unanimous on the view the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates at its policy meeting next week following a stronger-than-forecast February U.S. payrolls report, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
Employers added 235,000 jobs last month, more than the 190,000 forecast among economists polled by Reuters.
A drop in unemployment, more people seeking jobs and a rebound in wage growth were other upbeat aspects of the report that economists at these top banks reckoned give the Fed a green light to raise rates by a quarter point, to 0.75-1.00 percent.
"It ticks all the boxes for the Fed to move next week," said Michael Hanson, chief U.S. macro strategist at TD Securities in New York.
The Fed previously raised rates by a quarter point, to 0.50-0.75 percent, in December.
TD is one of the 23 primary dealers, or banks that do business directly with the Fed.
To be sure, the path of rate increases in 2017 could change, according to primary dealers.
It may speed up if the economy accelerates because of possible tax cuts, looser regulations and infrastructure spending from President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress. On the other hand, it may be slowed by overseas developments including surprise election results in Europe, which could roil financial markets, they said.
Barring unexpected outcomes, the widely anticipated rate increase in less than a week would be followed by two more hikes later in 2017, 20 dealers said in the poll. [Read more... http://snip.ly/dgjgf ]
