Fed funds futures contracts extended their rally in Friday afternoon trading in New York and are now indicating more than half a percentage point of interest-rate cuts this year by the U.S. central bank. While the effective fed funds rate currently stands at 2.39%, the rate implied for the end of 2019 by the January futures contract has dropped 14 basis points on the day to 1.865%. That’s more than 50 basis points lower, while central bank shifts are often done in increments of 25 basis points. The shift comes amid a worldwide rally in bonds after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his plan to levy tariffs on ... (full story)