The next Federal Reserve Board meeting is a little more than a month away. It’s the last one for Board Chairman Powell before his term expires in May, and his last meeting could be an historic one.
There’s more talk on Wall Street that the Fed may be looking at three scenarios at their meeting, April 28th, 29th, leaving interest rates unchanged, cutting rates, and now a very remote chance of actually raising rates. First, inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target, and second, a jump in crude oil recently could push that 2% target even further away. The year started, an analyst giving a 70% chance of at least one rate cut during the year, and now that stands at 40%.
CME FedWatch, in fact, shows an 88% chance, no rate change, but a 12% chance of a rate hike.Â
Audio Reporting by Mark Oppold for Southeast AgNet.