New Delhi, Oct. 30 -- As it is, framing monetary policy is a delicate balancing act, with various economic forces in play. For the US Federal Reserve, Wednesday's decision would've had to be taken with a data blindfold.

Since America's government has been in shutdown for almost a month, few official numbers have been released. Inflation data was, but the Fed has had the job market under watch and its chair Jerome Powell has been a proponent of evidence-based policymaking.

So, its October policy call would be anything but usual. Still, expectations of a rate cut have been high. Job generation was probably weak, while inflation last month was 3%, just a percentage point above the Fed's target and far from the sticker shock-wave some had p...