An employment report set for release on Friday is expected to show that while businesses added fewer jobs in August, the unemployment rate remained very low at 3.5 percent.
Even after adjusting for inflation, it was up 0.6 percent, a pop from 0.4 percent in the previous report.
inflation was widely expected: Various data points that feed into the number, including the Consumer Price Index inflation report, come out earlier in the month.
Fed officials will be watching data over the next few weeks as they consider what to do with interest rates at their meeting on Sept. 20.
Policymakers have said that the meeting is a “live” one, meaning that they could either lift interest rates or keep them on hold, but several have suggested that at this point they feel that they can be patient in making a move.
Persons:
” Jerome H, Powell