Asset managers question Fed's 'aggressive' 2017 hiking path after Yellen's dovish speech

First rate rise in a year

After the Federal Reserve's widely anticipated move to raise US interest rates today, asset managers have cast doubts over the central bank's ability to follow through with its revised rate path for 2017, as President-Elect Donald Trump remains a "big known unknown" for markets.

The Federal Reserve (Fed), increased interest rates by 25bps to the range of 0.5%-0.75% following a two day meeting of its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). In a statement, the FOMC said it raised rates because "information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace since mid-year". The long-awaited hike follows last December's rate rise - the first in over a decade - and comes despite indicators earlier this year suggesting 2016 could ...