The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady next week, with investors focused on new central bank projections that will show how much weight policymakers are putting on recent soft data and how much risk they attach to unresolved trade and budget issues and an intensifying conflict in the Middle East.

The Fed is looking less data-driven and more stubborn with every economic data release. Following the fourth consecutive cooler-than-expected inflation report, the Labor Department released fresh data Thursday that showed weekly claims for unemployment benefits reached their highest in eight months at 248,