Federal Reserve officials expressed concern at their most recent meeting about the pace of inflation and said more rate hikes could be necessary in the future unless conditions change, minutes released Wednesday from the session indicated.

That discussion during a two-day July meeting resulted in a quarter percentage point rate hike that markets generally expect to be the last one of this cycle.

However, discussions showed that most members worry that the inflation fight is far from over and could require additional tightening action from the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee.

“With inflation still well above the Committee’s longer-run goal and the labor market remaining tight, most participants continued to see significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy,” the meeting summary stated.

That latest increase brought the Fed’s key borrowing level, known as the federal funds rate, to a range targeted between 5.25%-5%, the highest level in more than 22 years. 

While some members have said since the meeting that they think the further rate hikes could be unnecessary, the minutes suggested caution. Officials noted pressure from a number of variables and stressed that future decisions will be based on incoming data.

“In discussing the policy outlook, participants continued to judge that it was critical that the stance of monetary policy be sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to the Committee’s 2 percent objective over time,” the document said.

Lots of uncertainty

Indeed, the minutes suggested considerable misgivings over the future direction of policy.

While there was agreement that inflation is “unacceptably high,” there also was indication “that a number of tentative signs that inflation pressures could be abating.”

“Almost all” the meeting participants, which includes nonvoting members, were in favor of the rate increase. However, those opposed said they thought the committee could skip a hike and watch how previous increases are impacting economic conditions.

“Participants generally noted a high degree of uncertainty regarding the cumulative effects on the economy of past monetary policy tightening,” the minutes said.

The minutes noted that the economy was expected to slow and unemployment likely will rise somewhat. However, staff economists retracted an earlier forecast that troubles in the banking industry could lead to a mild recession this year.

Real estate concern

But there was concern over problems with commercial real estate.

Specifically, officials cited “risks associated with a potential sharp decline in CRE valuations that could adversely affect some banks and other financial institutions, such as insurance companies, that are heavily exposed to CRE. Several participants noted the susceptibility of some nonbank financial institutions” such as money market funds and the like.

For the future of policy, members emphasized two-sided risks of loosening policy too quickly and risking higher inflation against tightening too much and sending the economy into contraction.

Recent data shows that while inflation is still a good distance from the central bank’s 2% target, it has made marked progress since peaking above 9% in June 2022.

For instance, the consumer price index, a widely followed measure of goods and services costs, ran at a 3.2% 12-month rate in July. The Fed’s favorite measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, stood at 4.1% in June.

However, policymakers worry that declaring victory too soon could repeat critical mistakes of the past. In the 1970s, central bankers raised rates to combat double-digit inflation, but backed off quickly when prices showed tentative signs of backing off.

Despite the intent of the hikes to slow down the economy, they’ve had seemingly little effect on overall growth.

GDP gains have averaged above 2% in the first half of 2023, with the economy on pace to rise another 5.8% in the third quarter, according to updated projections from the Atlanta Fed.

At the same time, employment growth has slowed some but still remains robust. The unemployment rate was at 3.5% in July, hovering around its lowest level since the late 1960s. Job openings have come in some from record levels but still far outnumber the pool of available workers.

Some Fed officials of late have indicated that while rate cuts are unlikely this year, increases could be over. Regional Presidents John Williams of New York and Patrick Harker of Philadelphia, for instance, both said last week they could see a pathway to holding the line here. Market pricing is strongly pointing to no additional hikes, with less than a 40% chance of another increase priced in before the end of the year, according to CME Group data.

There is going to be a new way to get around downtown Orlando, Florida, and it’s not going to require any human drivers.

Starting later this month, an electric, self-driving shuttle will whisk passengers around a 1-mile (1.6 km) loop in the downtown area for no charge, Orlando officials said Wednesday.

The eight-passenger shuttle service is part of a six-month trial for the central Florida city. Transportation planners hope to use data gathered from the pilot program to guide the city’s future transportation strategy.

“With the expansion of autonomous vehicle shuttles into our neighborhoods, we can converge cutting-edge technology with new mobility solutions to further redefine the way our community moves,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said.

The autonomous shuttle service is operated by Beep Inc., an Orlando-based company that already operates a similar service in a planned community near Orlando International Airport.

Mortgage rates rose for the third straight week last week, matching a 22-year high. As a result, mortgage demand dropped as well.

Total mortgage application volume was 29% lower than the same week one year ago, according to the Mortgage Banker’s Association’s seasonally adjusted index.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) increased to 7.16% from 7.09%, with points decreasing to 0.68 from 0.70 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment. That was the third straight weekly increase and the highest level since October 2022, which also matches a high level seen in 2001.

“Treasury rates were elevated again last week following mixed data on inflation and more indication of resiliency in the economy, which may pose a challenge to the Federal Reserve’s efforts to lower inflation,” said Joel Kan, an MBA economist, in a release.

As a result, mortgage demand from homebuyers was essentially flat week to week and 26% lower than the same week one year ago. The adjustable-rate share of these applications did rise slightly, as ARM loans offer slightly lower rates, and buyers are looking for a break where they can find it.

Applications to refinance a home loan fell 2% for the week and were 35% lower than the same week one year ago. Last year the 30-year fixed was 5.45%, but the year before it was in the 3% range, so there are very few borrowers who can now benefit from a refinance.

While overall mortgage demand is dropping, applications for a mortgage to purchase a newly built home are rising, up 35.5% in July year over year, according to a separate MBA report released Tuesday. The Federal Housing Administration share of those applications hit the highest level since May 2020 and has increased in four of the last five months. FHA loans offer low down payment options and are thus popular with first-time homebuyers.

“This increasing trend in the FHA share is indicative of more first-time buyers looking to new homes as an option, given the lack of for-sale inventory among existing homes and challenging affordability conditions,” added Kan.

Mortgage rates continued to climb this week. On Tuesday, the average rate on the 30-year fixed hit 7.26%, according to Mortgage News Daily, the highest since last November.

“Lazy girl jobs” — a viral term that refers to well-paying, flexible jobs that allow for leisure time — are anything but lazy. Just ask the employees who occupy these types of roles, who tout on social media that they have time to relax on the job and still get their work done.

As antiwork discourse gains momentum across the internet, job seekers and employees are growing tired of being shamed for retaliating against a culture that they say glorifies overworking.

Having accrued more than 18 million views since its emergence on TikTok in mid-May, #lazygirljob — which blew up last week after The Wall Street Journal reported on the concept — is the latest iteration of a viral trend prompting employees to set firmer boundaries at work. Last year, it was ‘quiet quitting,’ a term that denoted working within your set hours and job description without going above and beyond.

And recently, the popularization of concepts like bed rotting, which describes lounging in bed for extended periods of time, and girl dinners, which constitute snack plates in lieu of fully prepped meals, encouraged many online, particularly women, to take reprieve from the burnout that commonly results from societal expectations to always be productive.

At the core of it all, many workers are saying that they are fed up with the notion that wanting to enjoy life makes them bad employees.

“Decentering your 9-to-5 from your identity is so important because if you don’t, then you’re kind of putting your eggs all in one basket that you can’t necessarily control,” said Gabrielle Judge, a self-described “anti work girlboss” and TikTok creator who is credited for coining the term “lazy girl job.” “So it’s like, how can we stay neutral to what’s going on in our jobs, still show up and do them, but maybe it’s not 100% of who we are 24/7?”

Judge, who has been responding to backlash after the phrase went viral last week, said the controversy wasn’t unexpected. She said she had labeled the term satirically to prove the point that compared to traditional hustle-culture mentality, a healthy work-life balance is often viewed as lazy.

One tech recruiter who works a self-proclaimed lazy girl job — at a remote company with a flexible schedule and unlimited paid time off that, she says, people actually use  — explained in a TikTok video that her manager trusts her to complete her work regardless of whether she steps out in the middle of the day for a hair appointment.

“There’s nothing lazy about expecting a job that pays you well, gives you good work-life balance and doesn’t overwork you. And no one in a lazy girl job is actually lazy,” she said in the video. “Because the companies who do take care of their employees, sadly, because there are so few of them in the United States, they have really high standards for hiring, so no one is at these companies actually slacking off.”

For many workers, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a radical shift in priorities as people around the world, especially those who had the means to isolate at home, discovered new passions and a slower pace of life. Corporate jobs pivoting to remote work showed for the first time, and on a massive scale, that flexibility in work was possible without compromising productivity. And now that employees have gotten a taste, they’re refusing to return to old ways.

Danielle Roberts, who calls herself an “anti-career” coach on TikTok, calls this surge in antiwork trends a “mini act of revolution” by workers who feel that their needs continue to go unmet. Shifts toward slower living, she said, are employees’ attempts to take back “whatever control they can.”

“People are spending a lot of hours per day doing something that drains them and doesn’t necessarily enhance their quality of life,” Roberts said. “And rather than calling the people who are divesting from that system lazy, and telling them that they just need to work harder, we need to talk about why it’s a trend in the first place and go one level deeper.”

The concept of work-life balance feels like a false dichotomy to Roberts, because it implies that “living” too much must mean somebody doesn’t really care about their work. In reality, she said, living a more enjoyable life enhances work performance by ensuring employees show up more energized and well rested.

“We’ve seen that the 40-hour work week is now outdated. We can produce the same amount of work, if not more work, in a fraction of the time,” she said. “So wanting to keep those butts in seats, and not just for 40 hours, but for 40-plus hours, is just really a means of control. If you hired them, you should trust your employees to do their job and do it well.”

Roberts, who describes herself as a recovering perfectionist and people pleaser, said she spent years of her life trying to prove that she could be the hardest worker at her job before asking herself what she really wanted out of life — and realizing that the hustle culture wasn’t making her happy.

“There is definitely a lot of guilt around it because we’ve been taught to chase these external things: the job title, the salary, the house, the car,” she said. “There’s a lot of unlearning that needs to happen before we can put ourselves in a place of having that strong foundation to understand who we are, what our values are and what we really want out of work.”

For decades, Spam has been a staple in Hawaiian cooking, a phenomenon dating back to its introduction during World War II.

Now, Spam and parent company Hormel Foods are stepping up to aid victims of the Maui wildfire disaster.

The companies announced Thursday they would be donating 264,000 cans of Spam, valued at more than $1 million, to a relief organization.

“The people of Hawaii have a special place in both the history and heart of the Spam brand,’ the companies said in a statement. ‘Our donation efforts are just one way we are showing the community our love and support back.”

The delivery will be carried out by Convoy of Hope, a nonprofit organization whose mission includes aiding those affected by natural disasters.

“We know how popular Spam products are, especially in Hawaii,’ said Stacy Lamb, vice president of disaster services at Convoy of Hope. ‘This donation allows Convoy of Hope to deliver comfort to people whose lives have been turned upside down,’ Lamb added.

The fact that Spam doesn’t need refrigeration makes it a perfect item for Convoy to deliver to survivors, Lamb said.

The creation of Spam predates World War II, but the product surged in popularity during the war, thanks to its long shelf life. Spam grew especially valued in Hawaii as a cheap alternative to pork, according to food historians.

Today, the Hawaiian community consumes more than 7 million cans of Spam products a year — more than any other state, Hormel says.