Investors will eye US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen who’s speaking on Thursday after better-than-expected December jobs data helped spur fresh record highs on Wall Street.
First, US President-elect Donald Trump, who has spurred Wall Street bets of increased spending, lower taxes and looser regulation, is set to hold a press conference on Wednesday. It will be his first news conference since winning the Nov. 8 election.
“Trump is likely to set the wheels in motion to loosen fiscal policy once he has taken office later this month at a time when the labour market already appears to be fairly tight,” Capital Economics said in a note. “This is something that investors still appear to be underestimating.”
Several Fed officials including Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and Philadelphia Fed’s Patrick Harker said they expected three interest rate increases this year.
“I still think two [hikes] is not an unreasonable expectation," Chicago Fed’s Charles Evans told reporters in Chicago, according to Reuters. Evans added that if the economic data comes in stronger than expected, “three is not going to be implausible.”
Reference: BusinessDesk
Thai
Eng