Walsh's first major choice: whether to reverse last year's Fed interest rate reduction

On 13 July, Nick Timiraos of the Federal Reserve said that, last month, during his first in-service meeting as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Walsh had unanimously decided to maintain interest rates. Consensus was easy to reach at that time, as there was little willingness to act within the Committee. But in the coming weeks, maintaining that consensus will become more difficult. Some of his colleagues, whose concerns about inflation had increased, might facilitate discussion of the interest rate hike when the Fed met from 28 to 29 July. As we testify in Congress this week, Walsh will have the opportunity to lead this consensus. At that time, he would have the latest inflation data for June — the last important data to be released before the meeting. Kim Xian