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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
With China making a splash with its currency shift today and Big Fed Chief Alan Greenspan yakking with Congress for the second day in a row, the release on Thursday of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's June 30 meeting may get lost in the shuffle.
But there are a couple of nuggets that could add to the markets' sense of where the Fed is heading.
The Fed has been raising rates since last June, and after each meeting, it has said that it believes it will keep moving "at a measured pace." Markets take this as a signal that the Fed will keep raising rates by a quarter-point at each meeting, as it has done
The problem is that the Fed realizes that sooner or later it will have to either stop raising or have to raise by a half-point. So dropping the word "measured" would seem appropriate at some point.
But when? Today's minutes could show a discussion within the Federal Open Market Committee over that very question, and perhaps shed light on what the plans to do.
Other than that, Mr. G. has told the world everything and more that it needs to know about the Fed's view on the economy: it's doing fine, inflation is fine too unless labor costs get out of hand or oil goes really crazy, and the housing market is frothy but hey! I'm just the Fed chairman! I can't prevent bubbles!
The Fed's next meeting is just around the corner, in early August. At this point, it seems the Fed could just re-run the videotape and all go fishing instead, there's so little changing from meeting to meeting.
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-- Kathleen Hays is economics correspondent for CNN and contributes to Lou Dobbs Tonight. You can read more of her columns here.
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