The Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower interest rates at its next meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. The federal funds rate currently stands at a 5.25% to 5.50% range — the highest in more than 20 years — and there are expectations that the Fed will reduce the rate by 25 basis points.

But is a rate cut incoming? Following July's meeting, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said, "The economy is moving closer to the point where it will be appropriate to reduce our policy rate. That time is drawing near. That time could be in September if the data support that."

For two and a half years, ever since America’s Federal Reserve embarked on its fastest series of interest-rate rises since the 1980s, investors have been desperate for any hint of when it would reverse course.