Fed Minutes Reveal December Rate Cut on a Knife’s Edge, Bitcoin Slips Below $89,000

The Federal Reserve’s newly released minutes from the October 28–29 meeting have thrown fresh uncertainty into the December policy outlook, sharpening market volatility across equities, bonds, and Bitcoin.

While the minutes reflect economic data only available at the time of the meeting, the language shift inside the document has become the latest flashpoint for analysts dissecting the Fed’s next move.

The Fed described “many” officials as seeing a December rate cut as “likely not appropriate,” while “several” said a cut “could well be appropriate.”

In Fed-watcher parlance, the hierarchy matters. “some” > “several”, and “many” outweighs both. This indicates that a narrow majority opposed cutting rates in December at the time of the meeting.