” situation seen before the COVID-19 pandemic threw the U.S. economy into disarray, the Federal Reserve said on Friday in a congressional report that documented the steady emergence of more normal conditions in the aftermath of the health crisis.
Job growth has been slowing, and the unemployment rate has risen steadily from 3.5% last July to 4.1% as of June. Inflation remains around 2.6% by the Fed’s preferred Personal Consumption Expenditures Price index, still regarded as “elevated” by policymakers but edging towards a point where that may no longer be the case.
Financial markets and some policymakers, however, still expect the Fed to deliver two cuts of a quarter-point each by year end.