A Fed interest rate hike is back in focus with some analysts questioning if a Fed Chair Janet Yellen will introduce the move before the end of the year.
The latest economic reports have been mixed, making the forecast even more difficult. The U.S. jobs outlook continues to be strong and Friday's monthly employment report from the Labor Department is expected to show around 200,000 additional jobs were created in November, a figure that would bolster the Fed's first rate increase in nearly a decade.
Other data puts a rate hike in jeopardy. Slower consumer spending and manufacturing indicate a slowdown in economic growth while global developments continue to weigh heavily on the Fed's decision - the strong dollar, the low price of oil, and weak world growth.
Yellen is expected to speak at the Economic Club of Washington shortly after noon on Wednesday and analysts believe she will confirm that the economic data since the Fed's last meeting has not changed significantly to hold back a hike and that could be called even ahead of the Fed's Dec. 15-16 policy meeting.
Past opponents of the rate hike are coming around to the need for several small rate increases rather than a larger one. According to Chicago Fed president Charles Evans, "It is vital that when we first raise rates, the (Federal Open Market Committee)... strongly and effectively communicates its plan for a gradual path for future rate increases."
On Thursday, she will discuss her outlook at a hearing before Congress' Joint Economic Committee.