The Fed has been threatening to increase the short-term Fed Funds rate for almost one year. Last December, when the central bank raised the rate for the first time in nine years, it told markets to expect 3-4 more hikes in 2016. Now, at the beginning of October, the Fed has not yet acted, and the rate remains exactly where it was on December 31, 2016.
The central bank has had many excuses and reasons for not making good on its pledge late last year. At the beginning of the year, sinking Chinese equity prices caused Asian contagion, and the Fed decided to wait as the S&P 500 index declined 11.5% over the first six weeks of the year. Economic data over the late winter and early spring gave the Fed additional reason to pause. Then, the lead-up and results of the Brexit referendum was yet another reason to leave
