The market is still optimistic about the Federal Reserve cutting rate this year, possibly as many as six times, but with March quickly approaching, many are not so sure it will happen so quickly.

Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi sit down with executives and economists at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while Madison Mills and Josh Lipton weigh in from the Yahoo Finance New York studio.

Some executives are in the early-March, six-rate-cut camp, namely Anne Walsh of Guggenheim Partners Investment Management. Walsh sees the early March deadline as the outcome, but admits this is “more aggressive now that a lot of the market peers are leaving.”

Kenneth Rogoff, former IMF Chief Economist, suggests the uncertainty surrounding factors for a rate cut remain unclear—even to the Fed. “I think the Fed just doesn’t know what it’s looking for.”

“Ultimately the driver of rate cuts, in my view, is what happens to inflation,” states Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs Chief Economist, who suggests this is what will determine the pace and amount of rate cuts.

It's all part of Yahoo Finance's exclusive coverage from the World Economic Forum, where our team is speaking to top decision-makers as well as preeminent leaders in business, finance, and politics about the world’s most pressing issues and priorities for the coming year.

Watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live here.

Editor's note: This article was written by Eyek Ntekim

Video Transcript

MADISON MILLS: Despite calls from-- for caution from policymakers, US investors still betting on six rate cuts in 2024. But are business leaders just as optimistic? Yahoo Finance's executive editor Brian Sozzi and our own Julie Hyman spoke with folks on the ground in Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum on their rate expectations in the year ahead. Here's what they had to say.

BRIAN MOYNIHAN: Our team has four cuts next year and four cuts in '25. And so that gets you down in the 3, 3 and quarter, 3%-3.5% range. So that will feel quick. But it's less the pace. It's where it stops out.

ROBIN VINCE: Now it's our house view that we will see rate cuts this year, maybe a little less than what the market's expecting right now and maybe a little later as well. But we'll have to see.

BRIAN SOZZI: Are you in the camp of six rate cuts this year?

ANNE WALSH: Yes, we are. And we're in the camp that they begin in March, which is more aggressive now than it seems like a lot of the market peers are believing.

KENNETH ROGOFF: I think we have a soft landing, maybe we'll get three cuts, something like that. I think the Fed just doesn't know what it's looking for.