US Fed meeting next week won't move markets significantly: Here's why

Central bank officials face a series of delicate internal judgement calls about the economy and the path of both interest rates and balance-sheet policies

The Federal Reserve is highly unlikely to raise rates at its policy meeting next week. The view that the event will be a snoozer, with little potential to move markets significantly, is reinforced in two ways: The semi-annual report to Congress on monetary policy by Chair Jerome Powell last week that involved comprehensive written submissions and hours of Q&A; and because the meeting on July 31 and Aug. 1 will not be accompanied by a news conference or the release of new economic and policy projections (including the “blue dots”).

Yet this sense of quiet may be too partial. Central