Survey: Fed to spurn rate pause and stick with quarterly hikes

U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates on July 31. - Reuters

WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this week and continue its quarterly drumbeat of 25-basis-point increases straight through to June 2019, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

That’s a steadier pace for hikes over the coming months than Fed watchers anticipated in June, when they predicted the Federal Open Market Committee would skip a move at its December meeting. Such a pause won’t come until next September, economists now say.