The recently published minutes of the Fed’s rate-setting body reveal a far more fractured consensus and heightened concern than markets had anticipated. With divergences among committee members, shifting economic projections and growing uncertainty about the path of interest rates, the document offers investors a critical glimpse into the policy-making inner workings—and potentially volatile implications for equities.

To understand why this is so, we must first explain what exactly meeting minutes are. Minutes are the detailed records of the FOMC - the Federal Reserve Committee that decides on the setting of monetary policy. They are not simply a summary of the outcome, but a transcript of the debates, opinions, conflicts, warnings, concerns and arguments of each member. For this reason, the minutes function as a kind of X-ray of the Fed. They allow investors to see things that will not be said out loud at the press conference. While Powell has to speak with one voice, the minutes…