(Reuters) – Traders of futures contracts tied to the Federal Reserve’s policy rate pared bets Friday that the U.S. central bank will soon turn to cutting interest rates, after the government reported employers added more jobs than expected in April and the unemployment rate fell.
The Fed raised its benchmark rate on Wednesday for what it signaled could be the last time before an extended pause to allow time for its policy tightening to date to wring high inflation from the economy.
Traders had been betting that the Fed would reverse course and start easing the policy rate, now in the 5.00%-5.25% range, by September, but after the jobs report they see any cuts delayed until later in the year.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
