is under way. it sets the stage for a wednesday decision on whether they ll hike interest rates, or leave them unchanged. our business correspondent erin delmore reports from new york. what do you get when you add strong consumer spending? a tightjob market and remarkable growth. you get a resilient economy, an economy that defied earlier predictions of a recession and one that s not buckling under the weight of the fed s interest rate hikes. see, raising interest rates is the fed s best tool to combat persistently high inflation, which consumers have seen reflected in higher prices for nearly everything. and while inflation has fallen by half from itsjune 2022 high of 7%, it s still higher than the fed s target of 2%. earlier this year, federal reserve policymakers hinted that they may hike interest rates once more before the year is out. they ll have a chance this week or at their last meeting in december, or they could not do it at all. investors and economists are predict