White House NEC Director Hassett said policy rates can remain on hold, but at the July FOMC meeting Hamak and Kashkari argued for a 25bp hike, moving the debate from timing to how to judge the nature of inflation. Hassett emphasized growth and investment, saying current data do not justify a hike; the hawks warned that successive supply shocks—energy, tariffs—plus AI-driven data‑center investment could convert short-term shocks into sustained price‑setting and inflation expectations. If the hawk

Fed official Hammack said inflation remains too high and he is not confident it will slow without Fed action.

Market sources said South Korea's FX authorities on Thursday executed a rare dollar-selling intervention, pushing the won to a nine-month high. The action coincided with Japan's New York-market intervention buying yen and selling dollars, which pulled the yen off a 40-year low. The won appreciated about 2% to 1,418.0 per USD, its strongest since Oct. 20 last year. It had hit a 17-year low of 1,561.50 last month and is up more than 8% this month, on track for its largest monthly gain since March 2009. A South Korean finance ministry FX official declined to confirm the move. A Seoul FX trader said markets suspect coordinated Korea-Japan intervention after both governments said they would maintain close communication; Seoul's deputy finance minister on July 2 and Japan's top FX official on July 7 both reported close contact on FX issues.