A buoyant stock market and improving US growth have given the Federal Reserve cover to lift interest rates three times this year, including when it meets in less than two weeks, a Financial Times survey of top economists found.

Roughly three-quarters of the 43 experts surveyed said the Fed would raise rates by 75 basis points this year, a capitulation from months earlier when economists and markets said policymaker projections were too optimistic.

Hawkish commentary from those policymakers over the past week, rising inflation expectations, higher sovereign bond yields and record stock market valuations have left nine out of 10 economists predicting the Fed will lift interest rates by a quarter point this month, to a range of 0.75 per cent to 1 per cent.