The banking meltdown may have done the Fed’s work for it

Federal Reserve officials have a difficult path ahead of them. They still have work to do to bring inflation down, but their efforts have been complicated by the events of the past few weeks.

The failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the ongoing stress in the regional banking sector (there may be nearly 190 lenders at risk of failure, according to a new study) have put the Federal Reserve in a strange situation. Policymakers don’t want to raise interest rates and risk further damage to the system, but...