Oil supply shocks are pricing out Federal Reserve rate cuts
JL
Jordan Livingston
Fed interest rate decision · Apr 13, 2026
Source: DojiDoji Data Terminal
Investors are pricing a more than 97% chance that the base interest rate stays between 3.5% and 3.75% at the April 28 meeting. The lack of movement stems from inflation rising 3.3% over the past 12 months, a figure moving in the opposite direction of the Federal Reserve's 2% target.
This inflationary pressure is driven by oil prices. Iran has littered the Strait of Hormuz with mines, causing ship captains to avoid the waterway. This has choked off the supply of approximately 20 million barrels of oil per day, or 20% of global supply, that typically flows from the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq.
With no concrete end in sight for oil supply normalization, traders have written off the rate cuts requested by President Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The remaining 2.6% of traders are pricing in a hike of 25 basis points.
Fed interest rate decision
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