Here's everything to expect when the Fed issues its latest interest rate decision Wednesday

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell arrives for a press conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting at the Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington, DC, on March 18, 2026. Brendan Smialowski | Afp | In what could be Jerome Powell's final meeting as Federal Reserve chair, he is expected to lead his fellow policymakers toward another cautious pause, with stubborn inflation and a resilient labor market leaving little room yet for interest rate cuts. The decision Wednesday will come against a backdrop of elevated energy prices and a central bank that has been above its 2% inflation target for five years at the same time that the labor market has been weak but not in distress. That's not a recipe for easing, at least not yet. "On the dual mandate, they'd say we're roughly at a stable labor market," Roger Ferguson, an economist and former vice chair at the Fed, told CNBC. "On the inflation side of the mandate, [there's] a lot more work to be done with a sticky 3% [inflation rate], and I hope they argue, 'we're going to sit tight for a little while to see how this all plays out.'" Similarly, Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle expects the post-meeting statement "is likely to acknowledge the better labor market news and higher inflation numbers but to leave the standing policy guidance unchanged. …