Now that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has made it crystal clear that interest-rate cuts are coming next month, bond traders are focusing in on bets over the size of that first reduction and the future path of easing.
Powell, speaking Friday at the U.S. central bank’s annual symposium in Wyoming, said the "time has come” for the Fed to lower benchmark rates from their two-decade high, his clearest signal yet that long-awaited rate cuts are imminent.
While the Fed chair gave no indication on the size of cuts or the path of easing, he noted progress on inflation and said central bankers will be keeping a close eye on the health of the labor market as a guide for where to take policy. His words were enough to send U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar lower and stocks higher on Friday as investors perceived a green light to take on risk.