"Federal Reserve's megaphone": Signs of a policy turning point are emerging, and discussions about the possibility of raising interest rates again have begun within the Federal Reserve

According to the Wall Street Journal, "Fed mouthpiece" Nick Timiraos wrote that Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, and two other regional Fed presidents oppose maintaining the wording "the next step is more likely to be a rate cut" in this week's policy meeting, believing that the next rate adjustment could be either a rate hike or a rate cut.

Outgoing Fed Chair Powell stated that the committee is gradually shifting from a "rate cut bias" to a "neutral stance," and indicated that if a rate hike is needed in the future, the Fed will first move to a neutral position before signaling a rate hike.

Nick Timiraos analyzes that there has been a significant shift in the internal discussions about the interest rate path at the Fed, with the focus no longer primarily on when to resume rate cuts, but rather on under what conditions a rate hike may be necessary. Since the Fed began issuing policy statements in 1994, there has been little disagreement on how to describe the policy direction (rather than actual interest rate changes).