Wall Street Journal (12/11/15) Josh Zumbrun

Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal predict the U.S. is poised to deliver stronger economic growth and lower unemployment if the Federal Reserve makes its first rate increase in a decade. Economists have incorporated the inevitability of rising interest rates into their forecasts and still expect the economy to accelerate to 2.6% next year from 2.2% this year, according to the average estimate. The unemployment rate will fall further, reaching a nine-year low of 4.7% by the end of 2016, their forecasts say. “The momentum in the U.S. economy is building and 62 consecutive months of jobs growth creates a strong base for consumption,” said Constance Hunter, chief economist for the accounting, tax, and advisory firm KPMG. The U.S. economy has added jobs in every month since October 2010, and is set to create approximately 2.3 million new jobs in the coming year, according to the survey. That would be slightly slower than the 2.6 million jobs added over the past 12 months.

Wall Street Journal (12/11/15) Kate Davidson; Anna Louie Sussman

U.S. producer prices increased a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in November, driven by a gain in services, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday. This was the fastest pace of wholesale inflation since June. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal had expected overall prices would hold steady, and core prices would rise 0.1%. Overall producer prices were down 1.1% in November from a year earlier, the 10th straight year-over-year decline. Core prices were up 0.5% from last year.