A wise oracle (read: Fed Chair) emerges from a cave (read: Washington, DC) to offer a proclamation to the public: We’re holding rates steady.

We have a feeling Kevin Warsh, who presided over his first rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting last week, already bought his tickets to watch Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in IMAX.

In any case, Warsh wants to channel some Greek prophecy-esque energy when it comes to communicating with the public: As he framed it to an audience of investors last year, the goal is “more thinking, less talking.”

But last Wednesday, he had no choice but to talk: The Federal Reserve reached the unanimous decision to keep interest rates steady in the range of 3.5% to 3.75%, marking the first vote since June 2025 to lack opposition. Roughly half of FOMC members forecast a rate hike by the end of the year. Notably, Warsh declined to make any of his own forecasts.

The Fed’s released statement was also “a bit shorter, a bit simpler and it dispenses with some older language,” Warsh said. “That statement just gives you the facts, as best we can judge it.”

More on the FOMC’s “feeling each other out” period.—NP

Knicks vs. Spurs. Ali vs. Frazier. Coca-Cola vs….the IRS?

Yes, really. Beverage giant Coca-Cola is fighting with the taxman.

The company and the Internal Revenue Service will enter oral arguments before the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Miami starting June 25 in a dispute regarding how Coke reports profits in the US vs. abroad. At stake? Nearly $20 billion for Coca-Cola.

The Coke dispute is primarily concerned with how much the company’s foreign affiliates paid to use Coke’s intangible property, like formulas, trademarks, and brand names; the IRS argues affiliates didn’t pay enough and the company was not taxed adequately in the US as a result. Coke, meanwhile, argues that it relied on a transfer pricing policy established in a previous IRS settlement from 1996.

A ruling could take some time—and the case has already been around for a minute. First filed by the IRS in 2015, it persisted throughout the tenures of three Coke CEOs and 12 IRS top leaders, per the Wall Street Journal.

Why many companies are watching Coke’s appeal closely.—NP

Despite an uncertain economy, most employers are staying steady on hiring, a new HR Brew survey suggests.

Holding steady. More than half (64%) of the 200+ people professionals surveyed by HR Brew in June said that their hiring outlook for the second half of 2026 was about the same as that for the first half of the year, while 16% expect to hire more, and 11% expect to hire less. Their responses are reflective of the current labor market, as employers in most sectors have seen little to no job growth on a monthly basis.

One-third (34%) of respondents plan to make between one and four hires, 14% plan to make five to nine hires, and 12% expect 10 to 25. The most common roles HR pros expect to hire for include those in sales and business development (43%, a significant jump from just 34% last year), customer support and success (38%) and operations and logistics (35%). Executive and leadership (14%), legal and compliance (11%), and design and UX (7.27%) were the least common.

Under pressure. While hiring plans seem to be holding steady, some respondents indicated that they are not immune to uncertainty and business change. When asked about factors affecting hiring plans, the largest cohort of respondents said budget changes (45%), followed by changes in organization priorities or structure (33% and 30%, respectively), and economic uncertainty (27%).

Limited hiring or headcount approvals could be a challenge, HR Brew reports.—PM

Skip the noise and cut to the jobs that matter. CollabWORK curates openings from top employers and shares them directly in trusted spaces like CFO Brew—click here to see the full list for readers like you.

• Controller at Tutor Perini
• Corporate Controller at Continental Resources
• Associate VP Finance, PSDS Group at AeroVironment
• Tax Manager - High Net Worth at Wipfli LLP
• Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer - Office of the President at Carnegie Mellon University