President Trump’s unprecedented bid to wrest greater control of the Federal Reserve barreled toward a suspense-filled conclusion yesterday amid two parallel efforts to decide who will be able to participate at next week’s interest-rate meeting. In the span of just hours, a judge granted a legal victory to Fed governor Lisa Cook, and a Senate committee advanced the nomination of Trump pick Stephen Miran.

The judge’s decision allows Cook to remain in her job, at least for now, amid President Trump’s attempt to remove her, and the Senate committee’s action sets up the possibility of a Senate floor vote as soon as this week that would allow Miran to to fill a vacancy on the Fed’s board in time for next week’s meeting.

Meanwhile, the U.S. today will see one last inflation reading before the Fed meeting, with the consumer-price index for August due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal forecast the headline annual rate will rise to 2.9%.

Elsewhere today, the European Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged following its latest policy meeting. That decision is due at 8:15 a.m. ET.

Late Tuesday, a federal judge granted Fed governor Lisa Cook an injunction that temporarily halted President Trump’s attempt to remove her. The decision was a crucial legal victory for Cook—and the central bank’s independence more broadly—because it allows her to remain in her job and clears the path for her to vote at next week's consequential Fed meeting, when officials are expected to make their first interest-rate cut of the year.

On Wednesday morning, attention shifted to the Senate Banking Committee, where Republicans rushed to confirm Trump adviser Stephen Miran to fill a vacancy on the Fed’s board, setting up the possibility of a Senate floor vote as soon as this week that would allow him to join the same meeting.

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Attempting to keep up with the Fed comes with risks, especially if demand at home is resilient to global trade headwinds. “We don’t try to move in lockstep with the Fed,” said Eli Remolona, governor of the Philippines’s central bank and an alumnus of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

8:15 a.m.: ECB interest rate announcement
8:30 a.m.: CPI
8:30 a.m.: Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report - Initial Claims

10 a.m.: University of Michigan Survey of Consumers - preliminary
12 p.m.: World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimates (WASDE)
7 p.m.: U.S. Congressional Budget Office releases 'CBO's Current View of the Economy From 2025 to 2028'

Though the latest reading of wholesale prices unexpectedly declined in August, construction inputs continued to climb, adding pressure to a sector where activity has waned amid persistently high borrowing costs and import taxes.

Construction-material prices rose 0.2% in August, bringing to 2.3% the year-over-year increase. Declines in oil and natural gas prices, as well as a 3.8% drop in copper wire and cable—the result of tariff-related market turbulence—helped to offset gains in asphalt, steel, plumbing fixtures and lumber.

Steel mill products are now up 13.1% year-over-year, copper products have risen 13.8% and softwood lumber is up 5.8%, though lately prices for two-by-fours have tumbled.

President Trump has slapped 50% tariffs on the metals in the name of national security. He’s threatened to do the same with lumber, adding a tariff on top of duties on Canadian imports that rose last month to 35% for most producers, from roughly 15%.

Construction spending has declined 3.4% from its peak in May 2024 and residential building permits in July dropped to their lowest level since June 2020, during the Covid lockdown.

Nonetheless, Associated Builders and Contractors chief economist Anirban Basu said, “contractors remain broadly optimistic about their profit margins over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index.” — Ryan Dezember

• Canadians avoided travel to the U.S. in August, continuing a trend fueled by President Trump's hefty tariffs on Canadian imports and his musings earlier this year that Canada should become the 51st state. Preliminary data from Statistics Canada says the number of Canadians returning from the U.S. via car fell about 34% in August from the same year-ago month. (Dow Jones Newswires)
• Global oil markets are bracing for an even larger surplus than previously anticipated as supply growth continues to far outstrip demand, the International Energy Agency said in its closely watched monthly report.
• Indonesia’s newly minted finance minister has hit the ground running, promising to inject about $12 billion into the economy to support growth.

WSJ Pro Central Banking brings you central banking news, analysis and insights from WSJ’s global team of reporters and editors. This newsletter was compiled by markets reporter Vicky Ge Huang in New York. Send your tips, suggestions and feedback to vicky.huang@wsj.com.