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Fed-Linked Swaps Show Rising Odds of Super-Sized March Hike

Swaps linked to Fed meeting dates indicate that traders are now pricing in around 30 basis points of tightening in March.

Fed-Linked Swaps Show Rising Odds of Super-Sized March Hike
Stock market movements on an electronic display in New York, U.S. (Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)

Swaps linked to Federal Reserve meeting dates indicate that traders are now pricing in around 30 basis points of tightening at the next central bank gathering in March.

The central bank typically moves rates in increments of 25 basis points, so that kind of pricing suggests that at least a standard hike is certain and there is around a one-in-five possibility of a 50 basis point hike. Around 1.13 percentage points of tightening are priced in for the whole of 2022.

The pricing shifted up following comments from Fed boss Jerome Powell in the wake of Wednesday’s policy decision that have been interpreted as hawkish by the market. 

The two-year Treasury yield jumped by more than 12 basis points to 1.14%, putting it on track for its biggest one-day advance since the Covid-related turmoil of March 2020.

Fed-Linked Swaps Show Rising Odds of Super-Sized March Hike

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