🌅 Morning Market Update | 9 October 2025 ☕ 📈 U.S. index futures are trading flat today, while the dollar (USDIDX) slips 0.1%. 🇪🇺 Key events ahead include the ECB minutes (11:30 GMT), Jerome Powell’s speech (12:30 GMT), and U.S. wholesale trade data (16:00 GMT). 🧾 Before Wall Street opens (around 09:00 GMT), PepsiCo will report its Q3 earnings, kicking off the U.S. large-cap earnings season! 📊 The September FOMC minutes revealed a cautiously optimistic Fed: officials revised upward GDP growth forecasts for 2025–2028, signalling confidence that the economy can maintain momentum as monetary policy gradually eases. 💬 Almost all members supported a 25 bp rate cut in September, while a few preferred no change — and one argued for a deeper 50 bp cut. This highlights the Fed’s intent to balance growth support and inflation control. 💡 Inflation vigilance remains key: participants still see persistent price risks, but also growing downside risks to employment. The Fed may rely on tools like the standing repo facility to stabilise markets during quantitative tightening. 🥇 Precious metals stay near recent highs: gold -0.1%, silver +0.5%. 💻 Crypto faces pressure — Bitcoin hovers near $122,000, down from $125,000, while Ethereum slides nearly 2%. 🔥 Natural gas futures -1% ahead of the EIA storage report (14:30 GMT) — expectations point to a sharp jump from 53 bcf to 77 bcf. 🏛️ Meanwhile, Donald Trump said not all federal employees will receive back pay for the shutdown period, and the IRS confirmed 46% of staff will be furloughed during the closure. 🚀 Stay alert — today’s ECB and Fed remarks could set the tone for global markets!