The Federal Reserve will keep interest rates steady through the first half of the year, before delivering two reductions beginning in September, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

American families are growing sharply less optimistic about the economic outlook, but the Federal Reserve may be loathe to respond aggressively to a weakening economy in light of increasing worries that the Trump administration's trade policy will boost already elevated inflation.

Top Wall Street analyst Tom Lee believes that a Fed rate cut is highly likely, given the “overreaction” in the market.

The odds of the Federal Reserve implementing at least one quarter-point interest rate cut in early May fell to 30.5% after Wednesday’s consumer price index data arrived. That compares with 37.4% on Tuesday,

The Federal Reserve is seen restarting interest-rate cuts in June, traders bet on Tuesday, as government data showed U.S. producer prices were unexpectedly flat last month and weekly jobless claims fell.

Expectations for the next interest-rate reduction are being brought forward after the stock market’s big selloff at the start of the week. Investors had penciled in June as the most likely moment for

Softer U.S. labor market conditions against the backdrop of trade-policy uncertainty have prompted Barclays to raise its expectations to two rate cuts by the Federal Reserve for the year from one.

Barclays has lowered its expectations; now, it thinks the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates twice this year instead of once. This is due to unclear trade policy and the weakening U.S. job market.

Barclays now expects the U.S. Federal Reserve to deliver two quarter-point interest rate cuts in June and September, the Wall Street brokerage said on Thursday, citing softer labor market conditions amid tariff uncertainty.