PlumBirch Culture

The Fed Left Interest Rates Unchanged, for Now

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For the first time in more than a year, the Federal Reserve paused its aggressive campaign to bring down inflation — and left interest rates unchanged. Fed officials, who had raised rates 10 times in a row, said that they were giving themselves time to assess how the economy would react before making further changes.

The move was a recognition that inflation continued to cool, recently hitting its slowest pace in more than two years.

But just because Fed officials are moving into a more patient stage of their fight against rapid price increases does not mean that they are giving up on their push to slow inflation. The officials predicted this afternoon that they might raise interest rates twice more before the end of the year.

“I was really surprised by how meaningfully aggressive the future forecasts were,” my colleague Jeanna Smialek told me. “Two more rate increases this year is more than we had expected”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said today that the central bank didn’t see substantial progress being made in lowering so-called core inflation, which strips out food and fuel costs. He added that officials were willing to do “whatever it takes” to get inflation down to 2 percent.

Striking the right balance, however, will be challenging. If the Fed fails to raise rates enough, consumers and businesses could end up facing runaway prices. If it lifts them too much, the economy could be forced into a recession.

Aileen Cannon, the judge assigned to preside over Donald Trump’s classified documents case, has little experience running criminal trials, according to a review by The New York Times. Since 2020, when Trump appointed her to the federal bench, she has presided over just four cases that have gone to trial, and she had not previously served as any kind of judge.

A bipartisan consensus in Congress around providing huge sums of aid to Ukraine’s war effort is beginning to dwindle as Republicans gain traction in their efforts to limit or block future military assistance.

Right-wing House Republicans have long opposed U.S. support for Ukraine, but until recently they lacked the numbers to thwart any aid packages. Yet the bill that passed this month suspending the debt ceiling set spending limits that strengthened their hand, and increased the political pressure on Speaker Kevin McCarthy to keep a tight lid on federal expenditures.

A new class of drugs — including Wegovy and Ozempic — offer the more than 100 million Americans with obesity a chance to shed the weight, while escaping the ruthless trap of fruitless dieting. But there’s a catch, at least socially.

Some people who are prescribed one of the drugs fear others will judge them for receiving injections to treat obesity instead of finding the willpower to lose weight and keep it off. They don’t want to be seen as cheating, even though decades of studies have shown that very few people can lose excess weight and keep it off with lifestyle choices alone.

At the Grammy Awards in February, Ben and Jennifer Affleck had a hushed exchange with each other. It was the kind of private celebrity moment that’s often caught on camera, where facial expressions can be seen, yet words cannot be heard.

But Nina Dellinger, who has been reading lips for a decade, thought she knew exactly what they said. So she posted a video of her interpretation on TikTok, and generated more than 10 million views. Her video, and others like it, helped set off a new social media phenomenon, where lip readers interpret what stars, musicians and royal family members are saying off-mic.

You should squash them, the Department of Agriculture says.

The bug — an invasive species native to Asia that can cause widespread economic harm, primarily by damaging plants — has been spotted again this year on the East Coast. The wine industries in New York and Pennsylvania are particularly concerned that their crops will be destroyed.

Those hesitant to kill lanternflies need to know that the choice is either squash them or let them spread, experts say. The bugs proliferate easily, and they have even appeared on cargo flights to California, where an infestation would be economically devastating.

You may have never heard of Enceladus — the sixth largest of Saturn’s 146 moons — but it is now considered one of the most likely locations of extraterrestrial life in our solar system. That’s because a team of researchers discovered icy grains on its surface that contain phosphorus, which is believed to be essential for life.

Five other elements are considered necessary for life as we know it, all of which have been spotted, at least tentatively, on Enceladus. But a definitive search for life on the moon would take a new mission that is at least a decade or two away.

Have an organic evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

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