(Reuters) – Stronger than expected producer prices and weaker-than-expected consumer spending reported Thursday did little to budge financial market bets on a June start to Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, based on prices of futures contracts that settle to the U.S. central bank’s policy rate.
Fed policymakers meeting next week are looking for data that gives them more confidence inflation is on a path to their 2% goal, allowing them to start reducing the policy rate.
They are widely expected to keep the rate in the 5.25%-5.5% range until their mid-June meeting, with two more rate cuts seen likely by year end.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; editing by Christina Fincher)