VENTURE CAPITAL POST

There is a possibility of an interest rate hike next month, according to two senior officials of the Federal Reserve. Speaking before the House Financial Services Committee during a hearing on financial regulation, Fed Chairperson Janet Yellen said the economy had been growing at a pretty good clip, an indication it might be time to raise short-term interest rates.

Gold prices are at their lowest in three weeks after the Federal Open Market Committee announced that they won't push through with the interest rates hike.

Brazil analysts expect faster inflation and lesser cuts in the base interest rate for 2016, as political crisis hinders the moves to strengthen fiscal accounts and avoid another sovereign downgrade to junk.

Giving much wider scope of speculation on possible interest rate hike in next October meeting, the US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has indicated that there would be interest rate hike this year. Yellen further opined that it's necessary to increase short-term rates in a gradual manner as the improvement in labor market further continues and inflation rate reaches to the government target of two percent. The US Central Bank has been sending feelers about the possible rate hike this year for some time. The job market growth is the major factor that puts the US Fed in a comfortable position to take a decision on interest rate hike.

Most financial markets in Asia ended the week higher after the US Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged. China's Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.4% Friday. Despite that, the bourse was still down 3.2% for the week as investors worried over the Fed decision as well as weakness in economic data.

A tame inflation complicates the Federal Reserve's decision whether to raise interest rates this week. Data show that despite many signs of economic improvement, the pace of growth of US consumer prices last month was well below the central bank's target.

Surpassing analysts' projections, UK retailer Next Plc posted better than expected results for the first half of 2015. The pretax profit rose 7.1 percent to GBP347million ($533MN) for the first half. Retail profit margins grew 14.9 percent from 14.1 percent during the previous corresponding period. The strengthening British pound also helped Next Plc improve profit margins.

Global stocks are turning out to be more attractive for investors who prefer to put their eggs in different baskets rather investing in the US market alone.

Federal Reserve's Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer stated that although the US has achieved almost full employment, inflation is temporarily low.

A September interest rate hike is "very much in play" if the U.S. economy continues to strengthen, though the Federal Reserve could also wait until December to start tightening policy, an influential Fed official said in a newspaper interview.

Now that International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde has told the Fed to wait to raise interest rates, the IMF staff has followed up with suggestions that the U.S. central bank remake its communications policy and, in a phrase, ditch the dots.

Prices of many foodstuffs are surging in India, despite a good start to monsoon rains - an unexpected boon for wholesalers, but a major headache for the central bank and a government hoping for its help to reboot the economy.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is on track to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade in September, according to a Reuters poll that suggests economists now are mostly confident about that timing.

German bond yields hit 1 percent for the first time since September on Wednesday as long-term inflation expectations rose, although recent rollercoaster moves in fixed-income markets kept stock markets flat.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was clearer than ever on Friday that the central bank was poised to raise interest rates this year, as the U.S. economy was set to bounce back from an early-year slump and as headwinds at home and abroad waned.