- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China says to take anti-dumping measures against EU brandy imports
- China stocks rally fizzles on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- China stocks rally peters out on stimulus worries amid Asia retreat
- Taiwan's Foxconn says building world's largest 'superchip' plant
- Nobel literature jury may go for non-Western writer
- From Bolivia to Indonesia, deforestation continues apace
- China holds off on fresh stimulus but 'confident' will hit growth target
Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
The US Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee was divided during interest rate deliberations last month, although most members ultimately voted for a half percentage-point cut, according to minutes of the meeting published Wednesday.
Policymakers voted 11-to-1 in favor of the larger cut to boost demand and bolster the labor market amid signs inflation was falling toward the bank's long-term two percent target, with Fed governor Michelle Bowman the only voting member of the committee to publicly back a smaller cut.
But behind the scenes, the full committee -- which includes seven non-voting members -- was more reluctant to back a 50 basis point cut during the deliberations than the initial decision published on September 18 suggested, according to minutes of the meeting.
While a "substantial majority" ultimately supported the 50 basis point cut, some participants "noted that there had been a plausible case for a 25 basis point rate cut at the previous meeting," according to the Fed minutes.
But despite not cutting over the summer, "some participants observed that they would have preferred a 25 basis point reduction of the target range at this meeting, and a few others indicated that they could have supported such a decision," the Fed said.
One concern raised in the discussions was that a larger cut could be read as a signal the Fed was looking to make a series of bigger rate reductions going forward, when no such decision had been taken.
"Several participants noted that a 25 basis point reduction would be in line with a gradual path of policy normalization that would allow policymakers time to assess the degree of policy restrictiveness as the economy evolved," the Fed said.
"A few participants also added that a 25 basis point move could signal a more predictable path of policy normalization," it added.
But in the end, almost all voting members of the committee coalesced around a larger cut, bringing the Fed's benchmark lending rate to between 4.75 and 5.00 percent.
Futures traders now see a roughly 80 percent chance that the Fed will move ahead with a 25 basis point cut at its next meeting in early November, according to CME Group data.
X.Cheung--CPN