Get Ready to Read Between the Fed's Lines

Investors are evenly divided over whether Federal Reserve officials will cut interest rates again later this month or stand pat after September's cut.

By the end of the week, we'll all have a better idea of how Fed officials have been thinking. Minutes from the Fed's September meeting -- when it cut its target federal-funds rate by a half percentage point to 4.75% -- and from its emergency August conference call are due.

Money is flowing more easily through the credit markets and the September employment report makes the situation look much less scary.

If the minutes show the Fed was dwelling on markets and the August jobs report, investors might infer officials are more at ease now.

In the end, investors will have to decide whether they prefer an economy that is so weak the Fed feels compelled to cut rates again, or an economy that's strong enough to make officials feel comfortable standing pat.

-Subir