President Donald Trump's pick to lead the US Federal Reserve said Tuesday there is a strong case for raising the benchmark interest rate at the central bank's December policy meeting. In an unusually direct comment for a central banker, Fed governor Jerome Powell told the Senate Banking Committee, "I think that the case for raising interest rates at our next meeting is coming together."
While he stressed that the final decision on the key lending rate will be made at the December 12-13 monetary policy meeting, and noted the Fed's policy is to avoid definitive statements ahead of those meetings, Powell said "conditions are supportive of doing that." While the statement was a surprise, the opinion was not, as Fed officials have been saying interest rates are expected to rise gradually, and analysts are virtually unanimous in expecting the third rate hike of the year to come next month.