According to Finanz, the accelerated economic growth in the United States may force the federal Reserve to change their mind about raising interest rates 4 times this year.
Previously, the U.S. Department of Labor released the new job stats for February. The figures turned out to be higher than expected (even in the strongest forecasts). In February 2018, which is the shortest month of the year, there were 313K jobs created in the USA (the consensus forecast expected 250K jobs). The February figures turned out to be the highest job figures since July 2016.
On top of that, the department also revised the January figures. The revised figures indicated 239K new jobs created over the reporting period (the initial figures were at 200K). At the same time, the monthly earnings increased by 2,9% instead of 2,8% in January but 2,6% instead of 2,85 in February.
These stats pushed the dollar lower. The USD index, which measures the U.S. Dollar value against a basket of 6 major currencies, dropped from 90,34 down to 90,01.
The bottom line is that the American economy has been accelerating its growth for a while amid stronger business activity. This creates a new environment in which the Federal Reserve may reconsider their plan with 4 interest rate hikes in 2018. For the most part, their decision will rest upon future job stats.
