If there’s a word that stands out from Chairman Powell’s comments leading up to the Federal Reserve’s next rate decision, it’s “expeditiously.”

That pretty much sums up the Fed’s tone, and there’s no question what the Fed is trying to telegraph when it comes to taming inflation — “We’re behind the eight ball.”

The Federal Reserve has embarked on their most aggressive tightening cycle in more than 20 years. The question is how much and how long? The labor market is strong with the unemployment rate at 3.6%, just 0.1% above the pre-pandemic low. Also, the stubbornly low labor force participation rate has seen a significant surge over the past five months, increasing 0.7% to 62.4%.