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Fed minutes, a China rate cut and a housing update.Fed minutesAn account of the discussion at the Federal Reserve’s July policy meeting may [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Fed minutes, a China rate cut and a housing update. Fed minutes An account of the [discussion]( at the Federal Reserve’s July policy meeting may offer clues as to what would push the central bank to go big with tightening yet again in September. Since that meeting, contrasting data have shown a stronger-than-forecast labor market and inflation below forecasts. Meanwhile, money markets [are pricing]( about 60 basis points of tightening when the Fed meets next. China rate cut China today surprised with a rate cut in response to the [ongoing slowdown](. A slew of bad data in July, from retail sales to industrial production, underlined the continued damage that Covid lockdowns are causing the economy. The PBOC cut the one-year and seven-day lending rates by 10 basis points, which economists at Nomura Holdings Inc., a bank, considered "too little, too late." Gold reacted to the slowdown by [dropping as much as 1.1%]([,]( after four straight weeks of gains. Housing update Wells Fargo was the [lone holdout]( when giant US banks concluded after the 2008 financial crisis that mortgages are better done in moderation. Now, the company plans to shrink its vast mortgage empire after scandals. In the past year alone, flareups have included a $250 million fine for lapses that hurt borrowers in distress, as well as [revelations in]( a Bloomberg News report that Wells Fargo, more than any other major US lender, rejected refinancings for Black homeowners more often than White ones. Elsewhere, China’s home prices fell for an 11th month in July, underscoring how government [relief efforts]( are failing to curb the country’s spiraling [real-estate crisis](. Markets drift U.S. equity-index [futures slipped]( and commodities from oil to iron ore fell as disappointing data from China further clouded the outlook for the global economy. S&P 500 contracts dropped 0.5% as of 5:50 a.m. New York time while European stocks gained 0.3%. Treasury yields ticked higher and the bond curve remained deeply inverted, pointing to worries that the Fed’s campaign of monetary tightening against high inflation will spark a US recession. The dollar gained. Coming up... Speaking of housing, the NAHB housing-market index will give some clues on how the situation is developing in the US. There’s also the Empire manufacturing number to get through, while Canada will deliver wholesale-trade sales, manufacturing sales and existing-home sales. The earnings roster includes Trip.com, Tencent Music and Didi Global. What we've been reading Here's what caught our eye over the weekend. - JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley disagree about the [stocks rally](. - The [Inflation Reduction Bill]( is a climate bill. - The end of the beginning of the [war on inflation](. - [Alibaba and Bytedance](share details of their algos with Beijing. - Now [Elon Musk]( is telling China’s sensors about his vision. - How the US toppled the world’s [most powerful gold trader](. - More US lawmakers [travel to Taiwan](. And finally, here’s what Joe’s interested in this morning The good news last week, obviously, was the cooler-than-expected CPI report. Headline sequential inflation came in at 0% thanks in large part to the gasoline price plunge. But core also came in well lighter than expected. Of course, the consensus view for a while has been that we'll see some rapid disinflation, before we get to the hard part, so it's way too early to declare victory. There are all kinds of reasons to temper your enthusiasm. One is that the Cleveland Fed's Trimmed-Mean Index (which lops off outliers) actually accelerated last month vs. the previous month. It hit new highs for the cycle of nearly 7%. If there is some solace to be taken it's that the index didn't lead on the way up. During 2021, when it was still common to attribute inflation to used cars and a couple of other categories, the Cleveland Fed measure badly lagged core inflation on a YoY basis. So the good news is that this measure has been lagging during this cycle, as opposed to leading. Hopefully that's the case on the way down. Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on Twitter [@TheStalwart]( Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things - Americas newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](