A weakening economy may help push the Federal Reserve to make more rate cuts this year than the market is currently expecting, according to Lazard. The firm's chief market strategist Ronald Temple said in a second-half outlook that his base case is for the Fed to start cutting interest rates in September, with two additional cuts later in the year. The current benchmark fed funds borrowing rate stands at 5.25%-5.50%.
This calculation assumes that the central bank would lower its benchmark rate by 25 basis points, or 0.25 percentage points, at a time. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told CNBC's Sara Eisen on Tuesday that the central bank has " made quite a bit of progress " on inflation but isn't ready to cut rates. The November meeting for the Fed comes the same week of the U.S.