US Inflation Moderates, Fed Eyes Another 25bp Hike; All Eyes on Bank of Hungary's Rate Decision

US: The Fed starts slowing the pace of rate hikes as inflation moves lower

After ten consecutive interest rate hikes over the last 15 months, the Federal Reserve left the Fed Funds target rate unchanged at 5-5.25% in June. However, the central bank has characterised this as a slowing in the pace of rate hikes rather than an actual pause, with two further hikes signalled for the second half of 2023 in their individual forecast projections. Since then, inflation has moved lower, but the jobs market remains tight and activity has held up well. As such, commentary from officials has broadly indicated that they feel the need to hike again on July 26th, which would bring the Fed funds to range up to 5.25-5.5%. We suspect that the accompanying press conference will acknowledge encouraging signs on inflation, but also a desire not to take any chances that could allow it to re-accelerate. We expect the door to be kept open for further policy tightening later in the year.

In terms of data, the highlight will be second quarter GDP. The first quarter posted a firm 2% annualised growth rate, led by consumer spending. We suspect that the second quarter will be slower at around 1.5%, with inventories as the main contributor to growth. Meanwhile, durable goods orders should be lifted by very strong figures from Boeing, which received 304 aircraft orders in June, up from 69 in May. Outside of transportation, the data will be softer given that the ISM manufacturing new orders series has been in contraction territory for the last ten months. We will also get the June reading of the Fed’s favoured inflation measure, the core personal consumer expenditure deflator. As with the CPI report, we expect it to slow quite markedly with broadening signs of disinflation in more categories.