Even ahead of the Fed meeting, the markets had already reconciled that the Fed would limit itself to 25 bps rate hike. This is in sharp contrast to the 50 bps rate hike indicated by the FOMC members in the February 2023 minute. The big event between the February meeting and the March meeting was the aggravation of the banking crisis. Silicon Valley Bank went bust due to a run on its deposits and huge bond losses. This was followed by Silvergate Capital and Signature Bank also folding up. Across the Atlantic, it was Credit Suisse that was sold to UBS, almost for a song, to protect the interests of depositors.
In the run-up to the March FOMC meeting, the question was whether the Fed would opt for Nil rate hike or 50-bps rate hike. Obviously 50 bps rate would be too aggressive when so many small banks were on the brink. Also, Nil rate hike would be like abandoning its inflation battle. Fed wanted to keep its inflation fight and banking crisis separate, since higher rates were just one of the reasons for the failure of these banks. A 25 bps rate hike looked the best compromise; and that is what the Fed did; taking the Fed Funds rate to the range of 4.75% to 5.00%. But the big news is; CME Fedwatch is indicating that terminal rates may be just about 25 bps higher.
What is CME Fedwatch hinting about rate trajectory?
CME Fedwatch reflects implied probabilities of future rate hikes based on Fed futures pricing. The table captures live probabilities of rate levels after each Fed meet for 1 year.
Fed Meet |
325-350 |
350-375 |
375-400 |
400-425 |
425-450 |
450-475 |
475-500 |
500-525 |
525-550 |
May-23 | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | 59.1% | 10.9% | Nil | Nil |
Jun-23 | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | 16.6% | 54.0% | 29.4% | Nil |
Jul-23 | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | 13.6% | 46.6% | 34.1% | 5.7% | Nil |
Sep-23 | Nil | Nil | Nil | 8.0% | 33.0% | 39.2% | 17.4% | 2.3% | Nil |
Nov-23 | Nil | Nil | 3.1% | 18.2% | 35.7% | 30.4% | 11.2% | 1.4% | Nil |
Dec-23 | Nil | 2.3% | 14.3% | 31.2% | 31.8% | 16.2% | 3.9% | 0.4% | Nil |
Jan-24 | 1.7% | 10.8% | 26.1% | 31.5% | 20.8% | 7.6% | 1.4% | 0.1% | Nil |
Mar-24 | 10.4% | 22.8% | 30.1% | 23.0% | 10.5% | 2.8% | 0.4% | Nil | Nil |
Data source: CME Fedwatch
The above table has captured probabilities of Fed rate scenarios in the next 8 FOMC meetings, culled from the Fed futures trading data. There is a clearly a huge shift and markets are expecting rates to come down much faster. Here are some very interesting takeaways from the latest Fedwatch trends.
Unless things improve drastically on the banking front (which looks remote), Fed rates may be very close to its peak terminal rates. Subsequent rate action will be more critical.
8 things we gathered from the Fed March 2023 statement
Here are 8 key takeaways from the Fed statement issued post the FOMC meet, late on 22nd March 2023.
It is the banking crisis that appears to have enveloped the Fed statement and that is likely to impact the trajectory of rate hikes; like it or not.
What the Fed statement means for RBI
For now, there is unlikely to be significant in the RBI stance. It had hinted at another rate hike of 25 bps in the April 2023 MPC meet and that would happen. Majority of the MPC members (barring Jayanth Varma and Ashima Goyal) are still veering towards using rate hikes to control inflation expectations. Also, the impact of the banking crisis is still limited to the US and Europe, although rate hikes have impacted corporate operating margins and bond portfolios of banks. At this juncture, the RBI may not want to tinker with its long term perspective and would stick to its 25 bps rate hike in April. However, April may also see a hint from the RBI that, like in the US, that Indian economy was also close to its terminal peak rates of interest. That would surely be good news for markets.
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