Wall Street trade൩rs are betting the Federal Reserve will likely take a breather from its campaign of anti-inflation interest rate hikes when it meets next Wednesday.

The central bank’s policy committee is widely expected to hold its benchmark fed funds rate steady at its target range of 5-5.25% at the next meeting on June 14. As of Wednesday, the odds were 70%-30% in favor of a pause according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, which forecasts rate hikes based on Fed futures trading data. Holding the rate steady would be a change of pace for the Fed, which has raised its rate at each of its last 10 meetings starting in March 2022 in an effort to suppress inflation. 

The 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:federal funds rate, which influences borrowing ൲costs on all kinds of loans including car loans and mortgages, had been held at near-zero during the pandemic. The Federal Reserve kept the rate low to encourage consumers to spend and companies to hire and expand in an effo♋rt to counteract the economic shock caused by COVID-19’s spread and government restrictions on business. 

The Fed is now trying to do the opposite: raise borrowing costs to discourage spending and allow supply and demand to rebalance, curbing the high infl꧅ation that took off in late 2021. The fed funds rate is at its highest since 2007, an💃d Fed officials have suggested in public comments that it might have to go higher and stay there for months to get inflation under control. 

Setting the right 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:monetary policy is a delicate balancing act though. Raising the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:fed funds rate too high could slow economic growth so much that the country slides into a recession with significant job losses. Historically, significant Fed rate hikes have typically led to recessions, but the economy has 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:proved unusually resilient in the current cycle. 

Since the most recent rate hike in May, Fed leaders have 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:grappled with the question of ꦚwhether to hold rates steady or raise them higher at the next meeting. 

A pause wouldn’t necessarily mean the Fed is thro𒊎ugh with hiking its rate, Philip N. Jefferson, a member of the Fe💖d’s board of governors, said in a speech last week.

“A decision to hold our policy rate constant at a coming meeting should not be interpreted to mean that we have reached the peak rate for this cycle,” he said. “Indeed, skipping a rate hike at a coming meeting would allow the Committee to see more data before making decisions about the extent of additional policy firming.”