Wall St ramps up September rate-cut bets after soft jobs report

September 8(Reuters) - Standard Chartered has doubled its prediction for an interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve to 50 basis points at the central bank's policy meeting this month, following a soft August jobs report.

Traders are now pricing in a 92.7% chance of a 25 bps cut at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on September 16 and 17, and a 7.3% chance of a 50 bps cut, according to LSEG data.

Meanwhile, all eyes are on inflation data, due later this week, with expectations of higher cuts if it turns out to be worse than expected.

The surprisingly weak payrolls report also forced some brokerages to revise their rate-cut expectations. BofA Global Research has reversed its projections to 25 bps cuts each in September and December from no reductions this year previously.

Barclays changed its forecast on Friday to include 25 bps reductions at each of the remaining meetings this year, while Macquarie brought forward its expected December cut to October.

Here are the forecasts from major brokerages for 2025:

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