LONDON: Standard Chartered Plc now expects a half-percentage-point reduction in interest rates by the Federal Reserve next week after soft US jobs growth in August sent the unemployment rate to the highest level since 2021.

“We think the August labour-market data has opened the door to a ‘catch-up’ 50-basis point rate cut at the September FOMC meeting just as it did this time last year,” strategists John Davies and Steve Englander wrote in a note.