Mohamed El-Erian says January’s jobs data was “very strong”, and may lead the Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates sooner than previously thought.

El-Erian tells Bloomberg that the jobs data “speaks to a more inclusive recovery”. He says we need to see a few months of continued wage growth in addition to strong jobs-added figures, but he thinks January’s data may well lead the Fed to tweak its language in its March statement, in preparation for the start of slow rate hikes over the summer. El-Erian says that zero interest rates encourage excessive risk-taking. He also talks about divergence in economic performance between the US and other developed markets like Europe and Japan.