Key issue as Fed meets this week: When to slow rate hikes?

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve may reach a turning point this week as it announces what’s expected to be another substantial three-quarter-point hike in its key interest rate — its fourth straight. Fed officials will likely engage in a fraught debate over whether it may soon be time to slow its rate hikes, which are intended to cool the worst inflation in four decades but are also raising the risk of a recession. At a news conference Wednesday after the Fed’s latest meeting, Chair Jerome Powell could signal a forthcoming shift to smaller rate increases. Doing so would give officials time to assess the impact of the hikes.