On the eve of the release of GDP and employment data, Powell is facing unprecedented pressure

Federal Reserve Chairperson Jerome Powell and his colleagues will enter next week's interest rate meeting against a complex backdrop of intensifying political pressure, shifting trade policy and conflicting economic signals. The decision coincides with a rare data-intensive week in which the US government will release a series of GDP, employment reports and the Fed's core inflation indicators. Although the market is widely expected to hold back again, this series of data may reshape the policy path. Economists predict that the annualized growth rate of US GDP in the second quarter of next Wednesday is expected to reach 2.4% (a significant improvement from the 0.5% contraction in the first quarter), but this is mainly due to the sharp narrowing of the trade deficit. Friday's non-farm payroll report for July is expected to confirm the cautious hiring of companies. After a surge in employment in the education sector in June pushed up the data, job creation is expected to slow this month, with the unemployment rate rising slightly to 4.2 per cent. The US government's June personal balance report is expected to show a slight acceleration in the Fed's preferred core inflation measure from the previous month, suggesting that tariffs are only gradually being passed on to consumers.