BUSINESS DIGEST

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve faces a cooling job market as well as persistently high prices, Chair Jerome Powell said in testimony to Congress, a shift in emphasis away from the Fed’s single-minded fight against inflation that suggests it’s moving closer to cutting interest rates. “Inflation has eased notably” in the past two years,” Powell told the Senate Banking Committee, though it remains above the central bank’s 2% target. Powell pointedly noted that inflation is not the only risk. Cutting interest rates “too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment,” he said.

Statisticians and demographers are sounding the alarm about threats to official data gathering in the U.S. They warn that funding for the federal statistical agencies is inadequate and measures in a House appropriations bill could undermine what Americans know about themselves. A report released Tuesday by the American Statistical Association also warns that the agencies lack protections against political interference. Other advocates worry about the appropriations bill being considered by the GOP-controlled Congress.

NEW YORK — The Bank of America Institute found that average monthly rent payment growth for the bank’s small business clients rose 12% year-over-year in May. The rent payments per client closely track the nonresidential real estate rents component of the Producer Price Index, which suggests the increases are largely due to inflation rather than small businesses upgrading to bigger or better space. Easing wage inflation has taken some pressure off of small businesses, Bank of America says.

WASHINGTON — The Senate will pursue a spending increase next year of about 3.4% for defense and 2.7% increase for non-defense programs under a bipartisan agreement reached by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The deal sets up a certain clash later this year with the House. Spending was set to increase 1% for defense and non-defense programs next year under an agreement reached by President Joe Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But some senators said such an increase would not keep pace with inflation and amounted to a cut for many programs.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, the family that owns it and lawyers for thousands of claimants are gearing up to work on a new settlement after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the last one. The previous deal was fueled by up to $6 billion from members of the Sackler family. The high court ruled that family members who did not seek bankruptcy protection could not be granted protection from lawsuits over opioids. Lawyers want two months to work out a deal. One group is seeking permission to sue the Sacklers over money they transferred from Purdue.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A company has installed vending machines that sell ammunition in grocery stores in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Texas, raising concerns among gun control advocates. American Rounds company officials say the machines use an identification scanner and facial recognition software to verify age. The company’s CEO says the technology makes the transaction at least as secure as online purchases. But activists say these safety measures belong in gun stores, not in places where families buy groceries.