Economists estimate that the annual U.S. inflation rate ticked up in July from June but monthly price increases remained modest, which could possibly deter the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates in September.
Fed officials have lifted interest rates to a 22-year high to lower inflation by cooling the economy. They are watching inflation and other economic readings as they weigh whether to raise rates again when they meet in mid-September. Those include the Labor Department’s coming report on its consumer-price index, one of the most widely followed measures of goods and services prices across the economy.
