(Reuters) – Traders of futures tied to the Federal Reserve’s policy rate boosted bets Tuesday that the U.S. central bank will notch down its interest-rate hike pace further early next year, after a government report showed inflation eased sharply in November.
Fed funds futures prices implied a better-than-even chance that the Fed will follow its expected half-point interest-rate hike this week with a smaller 25-basis-point rate hike in February, ultimately raising rates no higher than the 4.5%-4.75% range in its battle to beat inflation.
Before the inflation report, traders were betting on a second half-point hike in February.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
