Traders pare 50 bps rate-cut bets after upbeat retail sales

NEW YORK: US interest rates futures turned lower on Tuesday as traders scaled back bets the Federal Reserve would decrease key lending rates by an aggressive half a point in two weeks following stronger-than-forecast retail sales data in June.

At 8:48 a.m. (1248 GMT) federal funds futures implied traders now see a 28.7% chance the central bank would cut its target range on short-term interest rates by 50 basis points to 1.75%-2.00% at its July 30-31 policy meeting, down from 32.8% shortly before the release of the June retail sales report, CME Group's FedWatch program showed.