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Four former Fed economists agree: Interest rate hike unlikely in September

Four veterans of the Federal Reserve – Brookings’ Donald Kohn, former vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board, and former staff economists Julia Coronado, Jon Faust and Joseph Gagnon – agree that the Fed is unlikely to raise short-term interest rates at its September 17 meeting, but barring some major surprises in the economy, all four expect a rate hike before year-end.

Ms. Coronado, now at Graham Capital, put the odds of September rate hike at less than 20%. The others put the odds at higher than that,  but less than 50-50.