Traders bet Fed's next rate cut will wait until June
FILE PHOTO: Early summer storm clouds gather over U.S. Federal Reserve building before evening thunderstorm in Washington · Reuters

(Reuters) - Traders on Friday kept bets that the Federal Reserve will wait until June to resume interest rate cuts, after government data showed inflation by the U.S. central bank's targeted measure ticked up to 2.6% in December, as economists had expected. After the inflation report, released at the same time as hawkish monetary policy remarks from Fed Governor Michelle Bowman, traders of futures that settle to the Fed's policy rate priced in about a 70% chance that the short-term borrowing rate will be 4.25% or lower after the Fed's June meeting, little changed from earlier in the day.

They were pricing in a second and final 2025 interest rate cut no sooner than October.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; editing by Jason Neely)