Wall Street traders are all but certain the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point later today. They’re also fairly sure Chair Jerome Powell will signal further reductions aimed at supporting a saggy labor market.
That setup has helped US stocks power to all-time highs in recent weeks and has options pros betting on a calmer-than-normal market reaction to the Fed’s policy decision. The S&P 500 Index is projected to move 0.72% in either direction Wednesday, according to data compiled by Stuart Kaiser, Citigroup’s head of US equity trading strategy, just below the average realized move of 0.77% over the past eight meetings.