Market Wire, North America

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, stripped forward guidance from its communications, and signalled a dramatic hawkish shift in its reaction function at Kevin Warsh’s first meeting as chair—confounding expectations for a smooth transition from the Powell era. In significant revisions to the statement, officials removed anything resembling a forward policy outlook, including the easing bias that had previously drawn dissents from three regional governors. In an extraordinarily-brief passage, the committee described economic activity as expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty tied in part to the Middle East conflict, pointed to strong productivity growth and capital investment,...

Annual headline inflation hit a three-year high in the United States last month, but decelerated slightly on a monthly basis while a measure of underlying price pressures eased—averting a widely feared intensification and reinforcing the case for the Federal Reserve to hold rates steady. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index rose 0.5% in May, slowing from April’s 0.6% gain. On a year-over-year basis, prices climbed 4.2%, up from 3.8%, as rising energy costs from the Iran conflict continued to feed through. The reading matched the consensus forecast. Core inflation—more important from a monetary-policy standpoint—remained more restrained, as softening...