Overview

• The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate at 4.25–4.50% for the fifth straight meeting, with Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman dissenting in favor of a 25-basis-point cut.
• Chair Jerome Powell pointed to elevated economic uncertainty and tariff-induced price swings as reasons to maintain a cautiously restrictive monetary stance.
• The Bank of Canada held its policy rate at 2.75% for a third consecutive decision and signaled possible rate cuts if downward inflation pressures from trade disruptions materialize.
• Australia’s annual headline inflation fell to 2.1% in the June quarter—the lowest since early 2021—intensifying calls for the Reserve Bank to ease policy within weeks.
• India’s retail inflation dipped to 2.82% in May, its lowest in over six years, prompting the finance ministry to endorse further rate cuts after the RBI has already trimmed the repo rate by 100 basis points since February.