Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, July 31st, and I'm your host Kim Khan.

This is a special Fed edition of Wall Street Lunch.

It's the return of the dual mandate.

The Federal Reserve kept rates steady at 5.5% to 5.5% as expected today without any descent while

indicating that inflation may no longer be the 500 pound gorilla driving

monetary policy. In its statement the FOMC said it is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate.

That's a change from the last statement where the committee said it remains highly attentive to inflation risks.

Markets remain confident that the federal start. it remains highly attentive to inflation risks.

Markets remain confident that the Fed will start easing in September,

with odds that the Fed could even cut by half a point

nearing 15%.

At his press conference, Fed Chairman Jay Powell said that a rate cut at the next meeting is on the table, but reiterated FOMC members still want more good data.

Banging the dual mandate drum, he said recent employment data points are going in the right direction,

and it looks like an economy that is normalizing.

We need to weigh the risks of employment and the risks of the inflation target more equally than we did a year ago.

Pantheon macroeconomics says the Fed is fretting more about labor market risks,

but it is laid out the foundations for September easing,

provided the next two

CPI reports give no cause for alarm.

Tom Graf, CIO at Wealth Manager Facette, says if the committee weren't

95% plus sure of a cut in September.

...