Some market watchers are now expecting two or more interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve by the end of the year.
After the speech from Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh today highlighted the need to get inflation back down to the central bank's 2% target, Deutsche Bank economists said they think the Fed will hike interest rates once next month and once in December.
Following Warsh's comments, "we believe the burden is on incoming data to surprise meaningfully to the downside" to avoid a 0.25 percentage point rate increase in September, the bank's economic research team wrote Friday. "Warsh's Jackson Hole address surprised us in its specificity about the economy and outlook and with its lean in a decidedly hawkish direction."
Deutsche is far from alone in its rate outlook. Interest-rate futures recently showed a 51% chance that rates increase 0.5 percentage point or more by the December Fed meeting, up from 29% yesterday, according to CME Group data. Traders see a 38% chance of a 0.25 point increase and only an 11% of rates holding steady.