Bitget CFD chief analyst Lewis Huang said the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July FOMC meeting signaled a broadly hawkish stance. Although policymakers left interest rates unchanged, several officials stressed that further tightening, including another rate increase, remained possible if inflation failed to continue falling toward the 2% target. Huang said traders should avoid relying solely on near-term rate-cut expectations and instead reassess how higher rates for longer could affect the dollar, U.S. Treasury yields, gold and U.S. equity valuations. He said the market’s next direction would depend on the combination of inflation and employment data: stronger CPI, PCE or wage figures alongside resilient labor conditions could lift the dollar and Treasury yields while pressuring gold and high-valuation assets such as the Nasdaq 100. Conversely, cooling inflation combined with weaker employment and consumption could revive expectations for Federal Reserve easing and support gold, non-U.S. currencies and risk assets. Huang advised CFD (contracts for difference) traders to monitor the interaction among the U.S. two-year Treasury yield, the dollar index and gold, wait for a price breakout and retest after major data releases, avoid chasing the initial move, and strictly manage leverage and stop-loss risk.