After a brutal month for equity investors in April, May is kicking off with a host of major market events that could further stoke volatility across risk assets.
One of the focal points this week will be the Federal Reserve’s May monetary policy meeting, which will take place Tuesday and Wednesday. Market participants expect at the conclusion of this meeting, central bank officials will opt to raise interest rates by 50 basis points, representing the first hike of more than 25 basis points since 2000. Investors also expect the Fed to formally announce plans to start rolling assets off the central bank’s balance sheet, beginning the process of quantitative tightening.
As of Friday, Fed funds futures showed traders were pricing in a more than 99% probability that the Fed would increase rates by 50 basis points, bringing the target range for the federal funds rate to between 0.75% and 1.00%.
