Investors will now be focusing on next week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) interest rate decision. The CME FedWatch Tool is currently showing an 87% probability of a third consecutive 25-basis point rate hike, although Edward Moya, senior market analyst for foreign exchange market maker Oanda, wrote in an email that the U.S. central bank is close to ending this type of monetary hawkishness. The Federal Reserve will be able to move forward with one, perhaps two, more rate hikes, “but then that should be it,” Moya wrote. “Today’s economic data painted a picture of an economy that is slowing down, inflation is temporarily accelerating, and the labor market is softening.”
