Timiraos’s Take: How Much Does Osaka Matter for the Fed?

Federal Reserve officials shifted toward a rate-cut bias after their meeting last week by citing trade-related uncertainty and a slowdown in global growth. But so far, they haven’t done much to separate these two risks.

In other words, how would officials rate the possibility that weaker manufacturing activity is pointing to a broader slowdown that might occur even if not for a ratcheting up of trade tensions between the U.S. and its major economic partners?