Federal Reserve official Lael Brainard calmed jittery markets yesterday by warning against raising interest rates too soon.

Brainard, a member of the Fed’s Open Market Committee, traditional holds dovish views towards monetary policy and has consistently voted against raising rates. In her Chicago speech she said the US economy remains fragile and that such economic weakness “counsels prudence”.

However earlier on Monday Atlanta Federal Reserve president Dennis Lockhart spoke out in favour of the opposite approach, saying he believed the current economic conditions favoured a September rate rise.

Global markets had been volatile ahead of the Fed members’ comments, as fears of a rate rise pushed shares down. After Monday’s speeches Asian markets broadly moved into positive territory, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.34 percent and the Shanghai Composite up 0.05 percent.

The dollar fell however, down 0.19 percent against the pound.

13/09/2016