Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell told US legislators on March 2 that he and his colleagues “expect it will be appropriate” to raise rates this month.

In a response to a Republican representative’s question, Powell said he was “inclined to propose and support a 25 basis point rate hike”. Powell also signalled the Fed would begin selling assets from its $9 trillion balance sheet “after the process of raising interest rates has begun”.

If the Federal Open Market Committee does raise rates at