Yellen: Rate hike coming, but not before June

WASHINGTON: Janet Yellen said Tuesday that the Federal Reserve can still be patient before raising interest rates, even as she prepared the ground for an increase as early as mid-year.

With the markets' guessing game over a rise in the federal funds rate intensifying, the Fed chair told a US Senate panel that the central bank was deep in preparation for the move after keeping the rate at zero for more than six years.