Poll: Federal Reserve Expected To Raises Interest Rates 'Only' Three Times In 2016

According to a poll conducted by Reuters involving 90 economists, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates "only" three times in 2016.

Reuters polled a group of economics who acknowledged a "storm has blown through the global markets" since the start of 2016. This has led some to "tone down" their outlook for the U.S. economy - and predict the Federal Reserve's funds rate will end 2016 between 1.00 and 1.25 percent.

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Reuters also noted that among the economists polled, the consensus was that the U.S. economy will grow 2.5 percent in 2016, but down from the 2.8 percent they were predicting a year ago.

"U.S. economic growth appears to have shifted to a lower gear in the final months of 2015," Northern Trust economists Carl Tannenbaum and Asha Bangalore told Reuters. "It has left many concerned about the well-being of the economy and raised questions about the Federal Reserve's recent hike of the policy rate, stressing that this does not reflect "a widespread deceleration of economic activity."