Fed about to approve rate cut as job growth moderates

(FILES) People shop at a supermarket in Montebello, California, on May 15, 2024. The US Federal Reserve's favored inflation measure eased further in June, according to government data published on July 26, 2024. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index eased to an annual rate of 2.5 percent in June, the Commerce Department said in a statement, down slightly from 2.6 percent a month earlier. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)

WASHINGTON: US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials are on the verge of lowering borrowing costs within months, a move chair Jerome Powell may signal this week as the risks grow of imperilling a solid but moderating job market.

US central bankers, who’ve kept interest rates at a more than two-decade high for a full year, are widely expected to leave them there again when their two-day meeting ends on Wednesday.