According to CoinMeta, Federal Reserve official Michael Barr ( Michael Barr ) stated at a banking forum in Washington that if inflation does not ease, he would be prepared to support interest rate hikes. Barr pointed out that inflation has persisted above the Fed's 2% target for nearly five and a half years, and he is concerned about "wider price pressures." He mentioned that if data trends could give him confidence that inflation is on track to return to 2%, then we could take a little more time to assess the policy stance. However, if inflation does not sufficiently ease, he believes decisive action to raise interest rates is necessary. Barr supports the Fed's decision in July to maintain the benchmark interest rate between 3.5% and 3.75%, but the market expects a 66% probability of an interest rate hike this month.