The White House has asked the Pentagon to develop strike options against Iran that could be deployed before the midterms, according to The Atlantic, which cites two Trump administration officials.
If so, the news would conflict with the conventional wisdom that President Trump is aiming to keep things relatively calm with respect to Iran to boost GOP chances in next month’s elections.
“[The strikes] would make the president look like he got a win and that gas prices would start going down,” one Republican familiar with the discussions told The Atlantic.
There were just 12 voters, but all 19 members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) were in favor of the central bank’s 25 basis point rate hike last month, according to the just-released minutes of that policy meeting.
Most believed that one more increase in the fed funds rate would be “appropriate” by the end of the year, the minutes continued.
The report jibes with recent comments from Fed officials that markets had gotten ahead of themselves in pricing in two more rate hikes in 2026.
Since that last Fed meeting, there has been weaker-than-expected inflation and employment data, and ahead of the next Fed meeting (Oct. 27-28), there will be more inflation data when the CPI and PPI for September are reported next week.
Market pricing currently suggests only a 17% chance of an October rate hike, but an 85% chance of one or more rate hikes by the end of the year.
The highly anticipated U.S. government auction of 10-year notes was a strong one, with the high yield of 5.30%, well above September’s auction high of 4.83%, but in line with current market conditions.
Foreign demand was notably strong, with Indirect bidders taking down 80.3% of the notes offered.
The 10-year yield fell a bit further on the news, the yield now flat on the day at 5.27% versus as much as 5.37% earlier.
Though still up on the session, the U.S. 30- and 10-year Treasury yields have each pulled back by about five basis points from their highs for the day.
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