Federal Reserve policymakers are meeting on July 29, 2026, in Washington to decide whether to raise or maintain the benchmark interest rate.
Officials are weighing persistent inflation against broader economic stability.
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The central bank's target range for the federal funds rate currently stands between 3.5% and 3.75%.
Policymakers are scheduled to reveal their decision at 2 p. m.
ET, followed by a press conference hosted by Chair Kevin Warsh at 2:30 p. m.
ET.
Economists Expect No Change
Economists from Oxford Economics, KPMG Economics, and Bank of America predict no rate change following the meeting.
All 104 forecasters surveyed in a recent Reuters poll similarly expected the target range to remain untouched.
Market expectations remain divided on Wall Street.
CME FedWatch data indicated that about 69% of traders anticipated no policy move, while 31% expected a quarter-point rate increase, up from 26% a week earlier.
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Consumer price inflation accelerated from 2.4% in February to 4.2% in May, driven by elevated gas prices linked to conflict with Iran.
It slowed to 3.5% in June amid a brief cease-fire.
Trading activity in financial markets reflected the uncertainty surrounding the central bank's next move.
Options flows for the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF showed a put-to-call ratio of 0.63, down from a high of 0.73 earlier in the month.
Market analysts noted that a surprise rate hike could impact longer-term bond yields and equities.
"It would go a long way to signal Fed independence," said Zed Francis, co-founder and CIO of Chicago-based Convexitas.
"The trade is that a hike causes a twist and the long end rallies."
In commodities, traders bought 13,500 calls compared to under 11,000 puts in SPDR Gold Shares.
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This offered a slightly positive delta imbalance as gold generally faces pressure in high-rate environments.
