Fed minutes to show depth of debate over a July rate cut

While the focus is now on September for the start of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, at least some U.S. central bankers were keen to get the debate about it rolling at last month’s policy meeting.

Roughly how many were in that camp and how unified the remaining policymakers were in seeing the Fed’s Sept. 17-18 meeting as a preferred starting point for reducing borrowing costs should become clear when the minutes of the July 30-31 meeting are released on Wednesday. The central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee ended that meeting by leaving its benchmark overnight borrowing rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range where it has been since July 2023, but officials agreed to a number of key policy statement changes that opened the door to a rate cut at their gathering next month.