Fed Minutes Point to Another Rate Hike This Year: Why Did Only Bitcoin React?

Most Federal Reserve officials said another interest rate hike would likely be appropriate this year, minutes of the September 15–16 meeting showed on Wednesday. US stocks and gold barely moved on the release. Bitcoin was the exception.

The minutes cover the meeting where the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed's rate-setting panel, lifted its benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4.00%. The 12–0 vote delivered the Fed's first hike since 2023.

What the Fed Minutes Say About the Next Rate Hike

"Most" participants saw another increase in 2026 as likely appropriate, according to the minutes. "Some" said the risks to inflation had tilted further toward prices rising faster than expected.

Several officials judged that the current rate was not restrictive, or only mildly so. In Fed terms, restrictive means borrowing costs high enough to slow spending and cool inflation.

Several participants also said the scale of the artificial intelligence (AI) buildout, the wave of spending on data centers and chips, continued to surprise them.

Why Stocks and Gold Barely Moved on the Fed Minutes

The S&P 500, the benchmark index of 500 large US companies, sat at about 7,801 in the first five minutes after the 2 p.m. ET release, down 0.02%, TradingView data showed.