Tentative signs have emerged that the U.S. economy is cooling in a way that would be welcomed by the Federal Reserve's inflation fighters: Companies are posting fewer available jobs, consumer spending has slipped and wage growth, while still healthy, is gradually slowing.
Those trends mark a contrast from the start of the year, when hiring was robust and Americans were still spending at a solid clip — factors that may have also helped keep inflation stickier than the Fed wanted. Yet with the economy no longer accelerating, economists and financial markets have begun to worry about the opposite scenario: What if the economy weakens more than is needed to cool inflation? Could it eventually turn into a recession?
