The Federal Reserve on Wednesday will set the level of its benchmark interest rate, adjusting a major policy lever for the first time since a government shutdown sharply restricted the release of gold-standard federal data about the economy.
In a rare exception, the U.S. government issued an inflation report last week showing a continued acceleration of price increases, which may complicate the Fed’s effort to revive a flagging labor market.
In recent months, inflation has picked up while hiring has slowed, posing a risk of an economic double-whammy known as “stagflation.”