After the Fed's No. 3, Williams, made his statement on Tuesday night, last night the Fed's No. 2, Vice Chair Jefferson, also expressed the need for more time to assess inflation trends, hinting at a preference not to raise rates in October. His exact words were: 'Since our September meeting, the yield curve across the maturity spectrum has risen further, which is a sign that investors are reassessing the evolving macroeconomic landscape. My colleagues and I need to form our own judgment, which may require more time. I will continue to evaluate whether underlying trends indicate that inflation is returning to target at a sufficient pace. With more data in hand, such trends may become easier to discern, as will the appropriate stance of monetary policy.' Essentially, two of the Fed's 'Big Three' (Chair, Vice Chair, and New York Fed President) have already indicated there's no rush to raise rates in October, especially Vice Chair Jefferson—someone who rarely comments on policy and belongs to the same camp as Powell and Cook. So, unless Friday's non-farm payroll data or the CPI data in two weeks significantly exceeds expectations, the bar for an October rate hike is quite high. However, this also means that if inflation doesn't show substantial cooling or if 'growth panic' emerges in the next three months, a December rate hike becomes highly likely. Jefferson's overall message is that the U.S. economy is at a critical juncture and monetary policy-making is in a challenging period. The economy is being influenced by the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), geopolitical shifts, and demographic trends, compounded by energy shocks, large-scale AI infrastructure investments, and trade policy adjustments. He expects the economy to remain resilient, continuing the six-and-a-half-year expansion and adding jobs, but inflation remains too high, having exceeded the Fed's 2% target for over five years. He views the risks to economic activity and employment as roughly balanced but sees upside risks to inflation. This post is sponsored by @bitget_zh, 'Bitget Buy US Stocks: Instant entry, seamless trading.'