The market is focused on how the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes will reveal the direction of interest rates

According to Jin Shi reports, the Financial Times analysis pointed out that the minutes of the Federal Reserve's October policy meeting will be released next Thursday morning Beijing time, at which point investors are facing increasing uncertainty regarding the path of U.S. interest rates.

Last month, the Federal Reserve lowered the benchmark interest rate to a range of 3.75%-4%, but the hopes of investors for Chairman Powell to hint at another rate cut in December were dashed. Before the October meeting, the market had fully priced in a 25 basis point rate cut in December, but Powell's statement that "further rate cuts by the end of the year are not a foregone conclusion" quickly reshaped market expectations.

Boston Fed President Collins this week further questioned the possibility of a rate cut next month, emphasizing that "the threshold for implementing additional easing in the near term is relatively high." Data gaps will become a major obstacle for the Fed's decision-making. The U.S. government shutdown, which lasted for 43 days, ended this week, during which key labor market and inflation data were all halted, making it difficult for investors to assess the true health of the world's largest economy.

Morgan Stanley analysts noted in a client report that the data gaps and delayed release of employment market indicators mean that "the Federal Reserve will face a dilemma of incomplete information when making decisions at the December meeting."