Today brings a calendar item that contains the letters "FOMC."  That's typically a big deal.  While it could also be a big deal today, the "FOMC Minutes" are more hit and miss when it comes to market movement.

So what are the FOMC Minutes?  It's common to mistake these as the "Fed Announcement," but the two are very different.  The "announcement" is the Fed's official policy communication.  With a couple hundred words, more formal verbiage, and a record of voting, this is the publication that would announce any change in the Fed Funds Rate or other tools/policies in the Fed's monetary arsenal.  It's the final cut from significantly more footage.

The FOMC MINUTES are that "more footage."  Specifically, the minutes serve to recap all the goings-on from the two-day FOMC meeting that precedes the announcement.  (For what it's worth, the Fed also publishes its completely uncut footage--actual transcripts from their meetings.  The only catch is that there's a 5-year delay!)

While the Minutes won't ever communicate policy or rate changes, they can absolutely rock markets in certain circumstances.  That's most likely at times when near-term policy changes are up in the air.  

We already know the Fed would like to hike 1-3 more times this year, so none of that discussion in the Minutes will be much of a surprise.  What we don't know is whether there's an emerging consensus on the Fed tapering its balance sheet reinvestments (whereby they've been buying bonds with payments received on their existing portfolio).  We know they've been discussing it and that it should increasingly show up in the Minutes.  Investors will attempt to read any associated tea leaves and come up with a consensus on when the reductions might start.

The Minutes are out at 2pm ET.  The only relevant economic data is Existing Home Sales at 10am.  Today's 5yr Treasury auction at 1pm is also more interesting than yesterday's 2yr auction, but not guaranteed to be a market mover.