The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady next week, with investors focused on new central bank projections that will show how much weight policymakers are putting on recent soft data and how much risk they attach to unresolved trade and budget issues and an intensifying conflict in the Middle East.

Consumer prices showed little sign of tariff-related increases for the third month in a row, defying expectations of a significant rise in inflation tied to ongoing U.S. trade wars.