Wall St expects March hike, China a wild card

NEW YORK: Wall Street's top banks say the Fed is likely to raise rates by March, but subsequent rate increases will be slow, particularly if China devalues its currency at a rapid rate in 2016.

A Reuters poll of the primary dealers that deal directly with the Federal Reserve shows that 13 of 18 that responded expect a rate increase by the March meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. That is similar to the results from a poll immediately following the December rate increase, which showed 13 of 19 believed the Fed would raise rates in March.