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

Traders focusing on options are gradually excluding the expectation of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve within the year, instead turning their bets towards the scenario of the Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates unchanged throughout the year. This theme began to emerge at least from last Friday. At that time, the latest US employment data showed a surprising decrease in the unemployment rate. In terms of market pricing, this nearly eliminated the possibility of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve at this month's policy meeting, prompting more and more traders to further delay their expectations for the timing of a rate cut. The stability of the labor market has led decision-makers to have few reasons to continue cutting interest rates after implementing three 25 basis point cuts last year, especially with inflation still above the Federal Reserve's target.