The options market is more concerned about a potentially big move in the S&P 500 Index off of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision Wednesday than it’s been at any point in almost a year.
The benchmark index is implied to move 0.95% on Wednesday, when the Fed gives its view on rates and Chair Jerome Powell holds his post-meeting press conference, according to an options strategy known as an at-the-money straddle, where traders buy an equal number of calls and puts with the same strike price and expiration. The last time traders priced in an FOMC-day move this wide was in May 2023, data compiled by Citigroup show.
