Powell Keeps Half-Point Hike Alive But Traders Aren’t Buying It
- Fed could raise rates more aggressively if needed, Powell says
- Traders scale back odds of 50-basis-point increase by June
Jerome Powell, on March 2,
Photographer: Julia Nikhinson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Money market traders need more convincing before pricing in the largest Federal Rate rate-hike since the turn of the century later this year, despite the latest signaling from Chair Jerome Powell.
Powell left open the possibility of 50-basis-point hike -- the first since 2000 -- at this testimony Tuesday, even as he poured cold water on the idea that it could come this month. Yet the odds of such a move by May dropped to as low as 20%, about half of what they were right after his speech.