Fed to cut rates in September and maybe once more this year: Reuters poll

The U.S. Federal Reserve will wait until September to cut its key interest rate, according to a majority of 100 economists polled by Reuters, with half saying there will be only two cuts this year and only about a third forecasting more. Fed Chair Jerome Powell also said on Tuesday "the recent data … indicate that it's likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence" that inflation is falling back to the U.S. central bank's 2% target, remarks that dimmed hopes for rate cuts anytime soon. Financial markets, which earlier this year were pricing six Fed rate cuts starting in March, are also expecting the first reduction in September and one more in either November or December.