Fed officials have made it clear that fighting inflation is their top priority even if that means inflicting pain. The Fed holds its two-day policy meeting next week where it is expected to hike the benchmark borrowing rate on Wednesday by another three-quarters of a percentage point in its aggressive campaign to cool demand and ease price pressures. Despite a healthy job market with near-record low unemployment, workers are seeing their wage gains overwhelmed by sky-high consumer prices that rose by a new 40-year high of 9.1 percent in June. Slowing the economy is likely to cause more job losses, but policymakers want to avoid at all costs the greater pain of a price spiral that becomes entrenched or spins out of control. The European Central Bank that made its first move last week . . .
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