The Federal Reserve is poised to deliver its third straight interest rate cut Wednesday, while simultaneously firing a warning shot about what's ahead.

Following a period of remarkable indecision about which way central bank policymakers would lean, markets have settled on a quarter percentage point reduction. If that's the case, it will take the Fed's key interest rate down to a range of 3.5%-3.75%.

However, there are complications.

The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee is split between members who favor cuts as a way to head off further weakness in the labor market against those who think easing has gone far enough and threatens to aggravate inflation.

That's why the term "hawkish cut" has become the buzzy term for this meeting. In market parlance, it refers to a Fed that wi

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