Traders bet on Fed downshift to half-point hike in December

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(Reuters) – Traders of futures tied to short-term U.S. interest rates priced in a slightly less-hawkish path for the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes after economic data Thursday showed inflation and household spending may be moderating.

Traders are still betting heavily on a 75-basis-point rate hike when the Fed meets next week, but are now more definitively pricing in a downshift in the rate-hike pace, to a half-point rate increment at the Fed’s December meeting. Fed funds futures pricing suggests a 72% chance of a half-point rate hike in December, up from 65% before the data.