BlockBeats news, on September 7, as the U.S. August employment data showed strong performance, Wall Street's expectations for a Fed rate hike in September intensified. CME FedWatch data indicates that the market currently assigns a 58.4% probability to the Fed raising rates by 25 basis points to a range of 3.75%-4% at the September FOMC meeting.
Data shows that the U.S. added 162,000 non-farm jobs in August, with the unemployment rate remaining at 4.1%; meanwhile, U.S. inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, and markets are concerned that supply shocks such as the Middle East situation, rising oil prices, and tariffs could continue to push inflation higher. Institutions including Macquarie, Bank of America, and UBS have all raised their expectations for further rate hikes.
On the other hand, the Trump administration continues to pressure the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. Trump recently stated that the Fed should lower rates, arguing that high rates are putting the U.S. at a disadvantage; Vice President Vance also said that lowering interest rates would help improve housing affordability in the U.S. As markets shift toward betting on rate hikes, the Fed under Walsh is facing dual pressure from the White House and market expectations.