"Fed megaphone": Fed meeting notes show differences in September rate cuts

On October 10, "Federal Reserve mouthpiece" Nick Timiraos said that at last month's meeting, Federal Reserve officials were divided on the size of the interest rate cut, with an overwhelming majority supporting the larger 50 basis point rate cut that was finally approved, but others supported a smaller 25 basis point rate cut. Just released meeting notes opened the discussion on why officials chose to start the first rate cut since 2020 with a bolder 50 basis points. < b > The decision to cut interest rates to the 4.75% to 5% range was supported by 11 of the 12 members of the Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee. One policymaker opposed the decision, favoring a smaller cut. Meeting notes that proponents of a larger cut "generally believe that this realignment of the stance of monetary policy will begin to bring it into better alignment with recent inflation and labor market indicators". < b > Some of these officials argued that a 25 basis point cut at the last meeting in late July was "justified", while recent data only confirmed the case for a rate cut.