CoinVoice has recently learned that "Federal Reserve mouthpiece" Nick Timiraos said that at last month's meeting, Federal Reserve officials had differences on the issue of the extent of the interest rate cut. The vast majority supported the larger 50 basis point rate cut that was ultimately approved, but others supported a smaller 25 basis point rate cut.
The published minutes shed light on the discussion about why officials chose to start with a bolder 50 basis point cut for the first time since 2020. The decision to cut rates to a range of 4.75% to 5% was supported by 11 of the 12 members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee. One policymaker dissented in favor of a smaller cut.
Supporters of a bigger rate cut "generally believed that this recalibration of the stance of monetary policy would begin to better align it with recent inflation and labor market indicators," the minutes said. Some of those officials thought a quarter-point rate cut was "reasonable" at the last meeting in late July and that recent data had only confirmed the case for a rate cut. [Original link]
