Futures tied to the Fed's policy rate now reflect about a 47% chance the Fed will cut its policy rate by half a percentage point, climbing from 28% odds on Tuesday following media reports suggesting it could be a close call between a half-point and a quarter-point rate cut.
The growing anticipation of steeper cuts helped boost stocks, gold and Treasury prices, and drive down the dollar.
All three major U.S. indexes closed higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJI
was up 0.72%, the S&P 500
SPX
jumped 0.54% and the Nasdaq Composite
IXIC
surged 0.65%.