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Some Federal Reserve policymakers believe it may soon be time to lower the rate on funds that banks and money market funds park at the Fed, minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting indicated, so that it once again matches the bottom of the range of the policy rate. The so-called overnight reverse repurchase agreement rate, one of two technical lending rates the Fed uses to ensure the federal funds rate stays within its monetary policy target range, is currently set at 4.55%, while the policy rate range is 4.5% to 4.75%. The overnight reverse repurchase agreement rate has ridden 5 basis points above the bottom of the Fed's policy rate range since 2021, when the Fed adjusted it to firm up the "floor" of the policy rate range.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Federal Reserve officials appeared divided at their meeting earlier this month over how much farther they may need to cut interest rates, but as a group agreed to avoid giving much guidance from here on about how U.S. monetary policy is likely to evolve. There was uncertainty about the direction of the economy, Fed officials noted, according to the minutes of the Nov. 6-7 meeting, uncertainty about just how much the current level of interest rates was doing to restrict the economy - a key issue in deciding how much further rates should fall - and a developing case to step carefully. "Many participants observed that uncertainties concerning the level of the neutral rate of interest complicated the assessment of the degree of restrictiveness of monetary policy and, in their view, made it appropriate to reduce policy restraint gradually," said the minutes, which were released on Tuesday.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump does not intend to spare crude oil from his planned 25% import tariffs on Canada and Mexico, sources told Reuters on Tuesday, as the oil industry warned the policy could hurt consumers, industry and national security. Canada and Mexico are the top sources of U.S. crude oil imports, together accounting for around a quarter of the oil U.S. refiners process into fuels like gasoline and heating oil, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

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With inflation still elevated, Federal Reserve officials expressed caution at their last meeting about cutting interest rates too quickly, adding to uncertainty about their next moves. The minutes don't provide much guidance about what the Fed will do at its next meeting Dec. 17-18. Wall Street investors see the odds of another quarter-point reduction in the Fed's key rate at that meeting as nearly even, according to CME Fedwatch.

Emerging markets are in for a tough and uncertain year due to policy shifts in the United States and uncertain growth in China, JPMorgan said in its annual outlook, predicting emerging markets bond funds were in line for sizeable outflows. "EM growth faces significant uncertainty in 2025, caught between two giants - China and the U.S. – with policy changes in the latter potentially delivering a large negative supply shock that will have spillovers across EM," JPMorgan said on Tuesday. Looking at emerging markets ex-China, JPMorgan predicted growth to moderate to 3.0% from 3.4%.