Minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting. on last month's half percentage rate reduction will be released on Thursday. It is expected to provide a final explanation of the differences of opinion among policymakers in making decisions that have surprised many economists.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, in a press conference after the meeting, said there was "broad support" for a half-percent cut, and even dissenting Governor Michelle Bowman agreed it was time to ease monetary policy, but preferred to start with a quarter-percent cut. as a precaution against the risk of inflation which he is not confident has been fully addressed.
That said, Powell also acknowledged there was "good and varied discussion" about the decision, while the projections issued by Fed policymakers about what will happen over the next three months show remarkable diversity.
In rate cut projections released at the September meeting, policymakers see interest rates falling between 0 and 0.75 basis points by the end of the year. This is the same range as the Fed projected in September 2022, when policymakers were still in the process of raising rates and debating how far they should go to tackle inflation.
The three-month period given in the Fed's September survey to the end of the current year is the shortest in the central bank's Quarterly Summary of Economic Projections.
Meeting minutes to be released early Thursday morning will provide a detailed account of discussions between policymakers and staff during each of the two-day meetings. It contains a section on the economic and financial outlook and officials' views on appropriate monetary policy and the risks they feel the economy faces.
Minutes of the meeting "may shed light on the conditions for policymakers to move policy rates more quickly," economists from Citi wrote on Monday.
Investors now expect the Fed to cut its benchmark rate by another quarter of a percentage point at its November 6-7 meeting and again in December.
