Americans are going to feel “some pain” because of a slowing economy, the Federal Reserve has warned. But what the Fed won’t do is predict a painful recession.
The central bank is set to jack up U.S. interest rates again next week as it tries to stamp out the highest inflation in four decades. At the same time, the Fed will update its forecast for the economy for the next three years.
The forecast is expected to show lots of clouds, some thunder, maybe a touch of rain, and then clearing skies by 2024 or 2025.
What the forecast won’t show is mass unemployment, a sharp recession or persistently high inflation lasting beyond this year.
“The company line almost has to be soft landing,” said chief economist Stephen Stanley of Amherst Pierpont Securities.
A soft landing refers to an ideal scenario in which the central bank cools off an overheated and inflationary economy by raising interest…
