Rise in labour costs expected to delay rate cuts

Accelerating wage growth around the world is making central bankers less willing to cut interest rates than some investors expect. "Wages are creeping up,'' former Federal Reserve chair-man Paul Volcker told the Concord Coalition, a fiscal policy watchdog group, in New York on 14 November. "When it comes to inflation, we are a little bit on the edge.'' In the US, unit labour costs rose last quarter at the fastest pace in almost 25 years. While Germany's largest steelmakers, ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter, are giving workers their biggest pay raise in more than 10 years. The International...