Fed Minutes Reveal Deep Divide on Rate Cuts as Data Drought Clouds December Decision
The Federal Reserve’s newly released minutes from its October 28–29 meeting show a central bank that is more split, more cautious, and more data‑dependent than markets had hoped — and that’s forcing investors to rethink the odds of another interest‑rate cut at the December 9–10 meeting. At that October meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) cut its benchmark federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage point to a target range of 3.75%–4.00%, the second reduction this year and a continuation of the Fed’s pivot away from the 5.25%–5.50% peak reached in 2023. Federal Reserve+2Federal Reserve+2 But the minutes, published on November 19,