Traders boost Fed bets on rate cut size

Anticipation builds: Fed chair Jerome Powell on television screens in the New York Stock Exchange. Fed officials have been giving mixed signals about the size of the next rate cut that might come in November. — AP

New York: The debate over the magnitude of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) expected interest-rate cut in November is intensifying, with traders ramping up wagers in futures keyed to the central bank’s path as officials start to weigh in on their next move.

After weaker-than-expected readings from US consumer confidence data, investors leaned a bit more toward a second straight half-point easing at the Nov 7 decision.