Economist Claudia Sahm said the FOMC post-meeting statement is likely to signal
imminent rate hikes unless inf makes more substantive progress. After the June
meeting the FOMC issued a marked shorter statement that dropped boilerplate
and contained only the line "C.BANK will achieve price stability." Sahm expects
the next statement to say that, despite recent improvements, inf remains above
C.BANK's 2% target—partly due to supply shocks from the Middle East conflict and
tariffs and strong AI-driven demand—and that if the labor market stays firm
while inf remains elevated, appropriate tightening may be required soon to
restore price stability. She also expects employment to be described as "broadly
consistent with maximum employment."
