Poll: Federal Reserve Expected To Raises Interest Rates 'Only' 3 Times In 2016

According to a poll conducted by Reuters involving 90 economists, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates "only" 3 times in 2016. Reuters polled a group of economics who acknowledged a "storm has blown through the global markets" since the start of 2016. This has led some to "tone down" their outlook for the U.S. economy - and predict the Federal Reserve's funds rate will end 2016 between 1.00 and 1.25 percent. Reuters also noted that among the economists polled, the consensus was that the U.S. economy will grow 2.5 percent in 2016 but down from the 2.8 percent they were predicting a year ago. "U.S. economic growth appears to have shifted to a lower gear in the final months of 2015," Northern Trust economists Carl Tannenbaum and Asha Bangalore told Reuters. "It has left many concerned about the well-being of the economy and raised questions about the Federal Reserve's recent hike of the policy rate, stressing that this does not reflect "a widespread deceleration of economic activity."