Most Fed officials see imminent rate cuts

WASHINGTON — Most Federal Reserve officials agreed last month that they would likely cut their benchmark interest rate at their next meeting in September as long as inflation continued to cool.

The minutes of their July 3031 meeting, released Wednesday, said the "vast majority" of policymakers "observed that, if the data continued to come in about as expected, it would likely be appropriate to ease policy at the next meeting."

In July, the policymakers kept their benchmark rate at 5.3%, a near-quarter-century high, where it's stood for more than a year.

Wall Street traders already considered it a certainty that the Fed will announce its first interest rate cut in four years when it meets in mid-September, according to futures prices. A lower Fed benchmark rate eventually would lead to lower rates for auto loans, mortgages and other forms of consumer borrowing and could also boost stock prices.