Federal Reserve to Release Minutes of December Meeting Tonight, Details of Decision-Making Disagreements to be Revealed

According to reports, the minutes of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on December 9-10 will be released at 3 a.m. Beijing time on Wednesday, revealing the escalating internal disagreements among decision-makers. With dual pressures of inflation and employment, the Fed's next steps appear uncertain. The decision to cut rates by 25 basis points in December sparked three dissenting votes - two from regional Fed presidents who believed a rate cut was unnecessary, and one from Fed Governor Milan, who has advocated for a larger 50 basis point cut for the third time since joining the Fed in September. Fed Chair Powell stated after the meeting that there are strong differences of opinion on which of the two risks requires policy attention. Looking ahead to next year, policymakers have even greater disagreements on the direction of interest rates, with some believing that no rate cut is appropriate. Among the 19 Fed policymakers, 6 consider a year-end 2025 rate of 3.9% to be appropriate, a level higher than the actual post-cut rate.

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