“The durable goods number came in better than expected, so that’s a positive,”  Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential Financial Inc. in Newark, New Jersey, said by phone. “Whether or not the market takes every positive data point as a chance for Janet Yellen to be more hawkish, I can’t say. The market, especially in a deep part of the summer with low volume, is absolutely focused on that speech and rightly so.”

Following the data, traders further pushed forward their expectations for a rate increase, pricing in a 32 percent probability of a move next month. They’re betting on a 57 percent chance the Fed will act by December, up from 36 percent at the end of July.

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