U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh holds a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), as the Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady, at the Federal Reserve, in Washington, D.C., Jul. 29. Reuters-Yonhap
Federal Reserve policymakers are likely to feel little fresh urgency to raise interest rates in September after data on Wednesday showed inflation cooled on a year-over-year basis for a second straight month, but they may take little comfort that monetary policy is tight enough to continue the easing trend.
The Consumer Price Index rose 3.4 percent in the 12 months through July, down from 3.5 percent in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, in line with economists' expectations. Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the so-called core CPI increased 2.5 percent in the 12 months through July after climbing 2.6 percent in the prior month.
Underneath the hood, there were some indications of broadening inflation. A sharp drop in hotel prices — unlikely to be sustained — drove much of the month-over-month easing in core inflation, and there were more categories of core goods that saw prices increasing than in June, said Omair Sharif, the founder of Inflation Insights.
