More and more options investors are betting that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged for the entire year

Traders focused on options are gradually eliminating expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this year, shifting their bets towards a scenario where the Fed maintains interest rates unchanged throughout the year. This theme has emerged at least since last Friday, when the latest U.S. employment data showed an unexpected decline in the unemployment rate. According to market pricing, this nearly erased the possibility of a rate cut at the Fed's policy meeting this month and prompted more traders to push back their expectations for a rate cut further into the future. The stabilization of the labor market has left policymakers with little reason to continue cutting rates after implementing three cuts of 25 basis points each last year, especially with inflation still above the Fed's target