Chorus of Fed speakers push March rate hike odds as high as 70%
Hawkish remarks from a chorus of Fed speakers pushed market implied odds of a US central bank rate hike in mid-March as high as 70% at one point on Tuesday evening, before they fell back.
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, New York Fed chief, William Dudley said in recent months the case for tighter policy had become "a lot more compelling."
"The risks to the outlook are now starting to tilt to the upside," he said.
Earlier in the afternoon Statside, his peer at the San Francisco Fed, John Williams said he expected an interest rate hike would receive "serious consideration" at the 14-15 March meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.
Philly Fed boss Patrick Harker, was of a somewhat similar view.
In a separate speech on Tuesday, Harker repeated he favoured three quarter-point interest rate hikes in 2017 if the economy remained on track.
Harker was already on record as having said on 21 February he thought the FOMC should keep an open mind on a March rate hike.
Finally, in an interview with CNBC early on Tuesday Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan said a rate hike would be best "sooner rather than later".
On 27 February, Kaplan had reportedly explained that meant "in the near future.".
As a result of all of the above, the odds of a 15 March rate hike in the US rose to roughly 70% on Tuesday evening, according to Bloomberg data, before they fell back to the approximately 50% level prior to their remarks.