Central Banks
Fed Set to Slow Rate Hikes Again and Debate How Much Further to Go
- Officials poised for quarter-point move with inflation cooling
- Tight labor market makes some uneasy about pausing increases
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Federal Reserve officials, heartened by an inflation slowdown, are poised to slow the pace of their interest-rate hikes for a second straight meeting and debate how much more they need to tighten to get prices under control.
Their campaign — which came too late, some critics argue — seems to be paying off, with a slew of data across the economy indicating that inflation is finally decelerating, a year after Chair Jerome Powell and colleagues incorrectly predicted it would soon fade. Still, a persistently tight labor market with unemployment at a five-decade low means policymakers aren’t ready to declare victory.