With August’s jobs report now on the books, all the really important data the Federal Reserve will use at mid-month to decide whether to raise interest rates is on the record. And it says the Fed should wait.
The economy added 173,000 jobs and unemployment dropped to 5.1%, the government reported Friday morning. At one time, that would have been low enough so it would have been assumed the Federal Reserve would begin hiking rates, and that may still happen this month or next. Janet Yellen & Co. have muddied the water recently, preaching on one hand that rate hikes depend on economic data, while different Fed members give divergent public takes on what the data mean.
