What do Atlanta Financial Experts Think about Fed Interest Rate Decision?

On Thursday, September 17, 2015, the Federal Reserve decided not to raise interest rates, ending speculation that had been rife for weeks. Atlanta Business Chronicle finance reporter Phil Hudson talked to several of Atlanta’s financial professionals on whether they believed this was a good or bad decision. Balentine Chief Investment Officer Adrian Cronje offered his thoughts for the story “What do Atlanta financial experts think about Fed interest rate decision?”

While Cronje noted there were several reasons why the Federal Reserve made the decision they did – namely that inflation is still well below their target rate of 2 percent and in theory, it is easier for them to correct the mistake of being too late to raise interest rates than being premature – overall, Cronje views the news as negative. “Why thumbs down? The Federal Reserve missed a golden opportunity today to show everyone that they are not being held hostage by the Capital Markets,” said Cronje. “They could have taken a small first step toward normalization by lifting off today and to accompany that baby step with very clear guidance that the path of future tightening would be very slow and gradual. Interest rates at 0% look increasingly abnormal alongside a normalizing US economy and healing labor market.”

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