U.S. inflation slowed to 2.9% in July, lower than market expectations

The U.S. unadjusted CPI annual rate for July was 2.9%, slightly lower, with the unadjusted core CPI annual rate at 3.2% and a monthly rate of 0.2%. Many investors and economists have become more concerned about the risk of economic recession after the unexpectedly weak employment report for July was released earlier this month. However, many economists still believe that the United States may avoid a near-term recession. They point out that recent increases in unemployment are due to temporary layoffs, and some analysts also believe that slowing inflation is an optimistic factor. On Wall Street, recent debates are not about whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates soon but by how much; some people bet that the Fed will cut interest rates by 50 basis points in September.