Next Week's Macro Outlook: Fed Minutes in Focus Amid Low Liquidity

PANews, December 27 – Despite the Christmas holiday in overseas markets, the prices of gold, silver, and platinum have all surged to historic highs, continuing the year-end rally in precious metals. Looking ahead to next week, with New Year's Day approaching, there are basically no major macroeconomic data releases, and global financial markets will remain in an extremely low liquidity state, with trading volumes expected to be significantly below normal levels. The real start of the 2026 market may not arrive until the second week of January. The following are the key points the market will focus on in the new week:

Tuesday 03:00, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its monetary policy meeting

Wednesday 21:30, US initial jobless claims for the week ending December 27;

Friday 22:45, US December S&P Global Manufacturing PMI final reading.

Due to the back-to-back Christmas and New Year's holidays, there will be no speeches from Federal Reserve officials next week, nor from other major central banks. Notably, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its December meeting. These minutes will be closely watched as investors look for any clues regarding the timing of the Fed's next rate cut and to gauge the level of concern about inflation among policymakers who voted to keep rates unchanged. It is crucial to select someone who can build consensus within a deeply divided Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). However, regardless of whom Trump chooses, the new Fed Chair is almost certain to be more dovish than Powell, so this announcement may pose relatively low risk to the market.