Tonight, we begin with the state of the American economy and the battle against inflation. The Federal Reserve today making a move to try and tamp down rising prices by raising interests rates by seventy-five base points. That means the central bank back-to-back rate hike of a combined one point five percentage points since June is the most since 1980s. Wall Street anticipated the move and stocks rallied in afternoon trading. All three major indexes scored triple digits gain with the tech-heavy NASDAQ jumping more than four percent, the most in more than two years. As the price people pay for consumer goods climbed to a forty-one year high in June, today’s move is designed to slow the economy without causing recession. And it comes as mortgage rates have soared doubling since the beginning of the year.

Tonight, Fed Chair J.P says the US is not in a recession yet, but the path to avoid one is getting narrower. In fact, he did not rule out another significant rate hike in September. What this move today means, it is likely going to cost more to borrow money in mortgage, car loan or even debt in your credit card. It was another aggressive move for the central bank pushing its benchmark rate to the highest in four years. The Federal Reserve’s move follows consumer prices shooting up more than nine percent in June compared to last year. Tomorrow Wall Street is going to be watching another key economic indicator, GDP. It is expected to show two consecutive quarters of negative growth, traditionally, historically. That is the sign that a recession is looming.