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To: Donald Wennerstrom who wrote (29332)	3/14/2006 1:14:42 PM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95790

US Fed may soon halt interest rate hikes -- report March 14, 2006 12:29:36 (ET) NEW YORK, March 14 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve may soon halt its campaign of raising official interest rates, according to a report from an economic research firm that investors said helped push U.S. Treasury debt prices higher on Tuesday. According to a report from Medley Global Advisors, the Fed is becoming more comfortable that inflationary pressures from from the labor market and energy costs have stabilized. As a result, it may stop raising interest rates after its next policy meeting in late March. The Fed has consistently raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point at each policy meeting since June 2004, taking the fed funds rate to the current level of 4.50 percent. "Another 25-basis point tightening, bringing Fed funds to 4.75 percent, is all but certain," according to the Medley report, which was obtained from market sources. "Beyond March and 4.75 percent, the (Federal Open Market Committee) is genuinely undecided, but most FOMC members feel either 4.75 percent or 5 percent is for now, the level most consistent with the general outlook and forecasts for the economy," the report said. Medley is a consulting firm known for its secretive reports on the views of policy-makers at the world's central banks. It sells its policy information on monetary, fiscal, regulatory and political developments to many of the world's leading banks, mutual funds, hedge funds and other institutional investors. Although Tuesday's report did not contain much information that was not already known by bond market investors, traders said it was seen as an excuse to buy back bonds that have generally been selling off for nearly two months. The benchmark 10-year note ((US10YT=RR)) was trading 19/32 higher in price early on Tuesday afternoon for a yield of 4.70 percent.