Yellen says March interest rate increase likely to be “appropriate”

Yellen says March interest rate increase likely to be “appropriate”

Janet Yellen’s speech today in front of the Executives’ Club of Chicago isn’t likely to disappoint those who were thinking that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at its March 15 meeting. Calculations on the CME Fed Watch site show the Fed Funds Futures market is pricing in an 81.9% chance of an increase in interest rates at the March 15 meeting. That’s up from a 77.5% reading yesterday

New home sales slightly lower than forecast in January; weakness at lower end of market

New home sales slightly lower than forecast in January; weakness at lower end of market

Sales of new homes climbed in January from December’s disappointment–climbing 3.7% to a 555,000 annualized rate–but still fell short, modestly, of forecasts. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were looking for an annualized rate of 571,000. I don’t think there’s anything in these numbers to cause a revision in thinking about interest rates at the Federal Reserve.