• Federal Reserve officials are on track to consider pausing interest-rate hikes following their March meeting if more evidence of cooling inflation rolls in. That’s based on a timeline sketched out by one of the Fed’s most closely watched hawks, Governor Christopher Waller, who was an early advocate of the Fed’s front-loading rate-hike strategy last year.
• Policymakers are widely expected to raise rates by a quarter percentage point at the conclusion of a two-day gathering Wednesday, to a range of 4.5% to 4.75%, slowing from December’s 50-basis-point increase after four straight 75-basis- point moves.