Rising Rates Yet Robust Growth: Why the Economy Keeps Beating Expectations

• Homeowners with fixed-rate mortgages have been shielded from interest rate hikes, helping prop up the economy • Businesses may have had time to adjust to the Fed's clearly telegraphed plans to raise rates • Interest rate hikes may not be restrictive enough to significantly slow growth • Strong consumer spending, aided by rising real wages, may be powering a "perpetual motion machine" of growth • Economists are perplexed about why the economy keeps beating expectations despite high interest rates