Poor Janet Yellen. The US Federal Reserve head just can’t catch a break.
Just when you think the financial markets have pretty much accepted interest rates will be low for the indefinite future, the July jobs report arrives.
The US economy added an astounding 255,000 jobs, blowing away the consensus estimate of 180,000.
Global Trend
This came after the Bank of England announced its first interest rate cut in seven years, down a quarter of a percent.
That’s the lowest recorded benchmark interest rate in that venerable institution’s 322 year history.
The low-interest rate trend is global. Consider the recent actions taken by the Bank of Japan, ECB, Swiss National Bank, and the Australian Central Bank.
In my opinion, a data-driven central banker like Yellen must acknowledge, at the very least, the economy ain’t so bad.
In fact, it may be strong enough to start the process of normalizing rates.
Photo Credit: Day Donaldson via Flickr Creative Commons
