After starting well, 2018 turned out to be a horrible year for markets. WSJ's James Mackintosh and Riva Gold chart the outlook. Investors are betting that U.S. interest rates will end 2019 no higher than where they started, a sign of diminished confidence in the economy. Fed funds futures, which investors use to bet on the direction of Federal Reserve policy, early Wednesday showed an 87% probability that policy makers will finish the year with interest rates at or below their current level. As recently as early November, futures prices were showing a 90% probability that rates would end the...

Source: Wall Street Journal January 02, 2019 17:19 UTC