Ian Shepherdson Marc Quotations

The March Beige Book paints a clear picture of an economy straining at the seams. Significantly, compared to recent Beige Books, there was more detail, and a more worrying tone, to the comments on the labor market.

If February is broadly similar, a March 28 rate hike is assured. The May meeting's risk is rising.

The Fed will deal with (the housing-jobs mix) by hiking in January and March and hoping that the housing softening will be sufficient to get them off the hook by May, though I think that's a close call.

He used the word 'pre-emptive,' which was the signal he used before the March 1997 rate hike.