Federal Reserve discusses interest rates rise

A rise in interest rates has been discussed by the US Federal Reserve.


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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

Discussions over when interest rates may be increased in the US have been held by the country's Federal Reserve.

The body is not expected to increase rates until the latter part of 2015 and the Fed was keen to stress an increase is not imminent.

Markets have been spooked in the past when the Fed has discussed raising interest rates, especially since Janet Yellen took over as chair of the body from Ben Bernanke.

Minutes of the Fed's latest meeting read: "The committee's discussion of this topic was undertaken as part of prudent planning and did not imply that normalisation would necessarily begin sometime soon."

In contrast to the previous reaction to similar comments, all three of the main US stock markets rose on the back of the minutes being released by the Fed.

Rates in the US have been kept at their target rate of zero per cent by the Fed since 2008, but with the country's economic recovery improving, interest rates may soon have to rise.

Interest rates in the UK have been at a record low for a number of years.

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