Interest rates

U.S. central bankers should move expeditiously and raise interest rates to neutral — the level which neither speeds up or slows down the economy — by the end of the year, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said.

The Federal Reserve’s most hawkish official cracked open the door to discussing the first 75-basis-point interest rate hike since 1994, a move economists say would be a last resort in case inflation further spirals out of control.

The Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates “significantly” higher than it currently expects to cool an overheated U.S. economy, Goldman Sachs Chief Economist Jan Hatzius said.

Esther George, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, says changes in the office sector and monetary policy pose potential risks to property owners and their lenders.

The move away from the scandal-plagued London interbank offered rate is going smoothly, according to a new survey of lenders and corporate borrowers. But many customers still face operational challenges ahead of a mid-2023 deadline for switching older loans.

The company has agreed to pay at least $3.75 million to resolve allegations that it violated the District of Columbia’s 24% interest rate cap.

The Secured Overnight Financing Rate has benefited — amid the phaseout of Libor — from positive comments by regulators. Is a multirate environment, which some banks would prefer, still possible?

Just three months ago, U.S. banks were still using the expiring benchmark rate for the vast majority of their new loans. But regulators said Friday the transition to alternative rates has accelerated ahead of a year-end cutoff.

Forget the goods supply-chain crisis threatening global risk assets: the real test comes next year when a service-sector boom drives labor costs higher and pressures central banks to tighten policy more decisively.

Many banks are still making loans tied to the scandal-plagued benchmark despite years of preparation for its demise. The end of 2021 could prove hectic as bankers scramble to implement changes and explain them to commercial borrowers.