Wall Street is gearing up for rate cuts. Twenty months after the Fed began a historic campaign against inflation, investors now believe the central bank will soon cut rates. Interest-rate futures indicate a 52-percent chance the Fed will lower rates by at least a quarter-of-a-percentage point by its May policy meeting, up from 29 percent at the end of October.
A scenario in which a group of major oil producers known as OPEC+ decides to “flood the market” is seen as a long shot, but still something to consider given that history has been known to repeat itself. OPEC and its allies are expected to announce their decision on oil output quotas at a virtual gathering on Thursday. Saudi Arabia, which has implemented a voluntary reduction of 1 million barrels per day output from July to the end of this year, requested that other members of the group reduce their quotas, but some are resisting.
Stocks are down slightly to open the new trading day after they closed slightly lower yesterday. The Dow Industrials fell 56, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both lost 9.
