Several of the world’s top central banks will meet in the coming week, but only one, the US Federal Reserve, is set to start a final countdown on the second most anticipated event of the year after the presidential election.

After years of waiting, it’s finally here: Fed week. Barring a shock, the Federal Reserve will raise US interest rates tomorrow for the first time since June 2006, a full year before the global financial crisis began.

Minutes of a meeting published last night show that US Federal Reserve officials in July said that while conditions for raising interest rates were approaching, they saw more room for labour market healing and need more confidence that inflation is moving towards their goal.