Is the Fed At the End of Its Rope?…

by Michael Maharrey at Schiff Gold

The Federal Reserve delivered another 75 basis point interest rate hike at its July FOMC meeting. This pushes the federal funds rate over the 2% threshold to between 2.25% and 2.5%.

The mainstream media emphasized the size of the hike. One headline called it “a second super-sized hike,” with many other mainstream pundits noting that it matched a June hike was the biggest since 1994. But it wasn’t as big as the full 1% hike everybody thought was on the table after we got June’s flaming hot Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.

Here’s the question: has the Fed reached the end of its rope? Will this be the last hike in this cycle?

The corporate financial press seems to think the Fed will hike again in September, and the central bank certainly left that impression. The FOMC statement said it “anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.” Powell said another “unusually large increase” could be appropriate at the September meeting.

But the FOMC state left some wiggle room, saying…