Last month, the Fed slashed interest rates by a supersized half-point in a bid to prevent the job market from falling apart, Chair Jerome Powell explained in a news conference after the decision was announced.

On the other hand, the world is a mess, inflation still lurks, and there’s a contentious election in November. Given all of that, a data-driven Fed is likely to stay the course.

September's 245,000 new jobs topped consensus forecasts by about 100,000. This means the Fed can probably slow the pace of rate cuts, economists said.