A blowout July jobs report could mean more rate hikes are needed to curb inflation.
Fed presidents speaking this week emphasized that inflation at a 40-year high has yet to slow.
The six monthly indicators used by official arbiters are not flashing red.
Some Fed watchers say markets read Powell's press conference too narrowly.
Surveyed economists expect the Fed to shift to quarter-point hikes the remainder of the year.
The nonpartisan panel has gone out of its way to keep politics out of the process.
Bloomberg estimates that there is a better than one-in-three chance of a recession within a year.
Some economists and asset managers believe the U.S. is already in a recession.
Fed St. Louis President James Bullard repeated his call for further “front-loading” of rate hikes to contain inflation.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues have pivoted aggressively to fight the hottest inflation in 40 years.