The median three-year inflation expectation dropped to 2.3% from 2.9% in June to register its lowest reading since the New York Fed launched the monthly Survey of Consumer Expectations in 2013. Fed officials - who've been battling high inflation for more than two years - track a range of measures of inflation expectations because they worry that if they begin to drift substantially upward, consumers and businesses will alter their spending behaviors in ways that can make inflation harder to tame. Recent measures of inflation have shown it returning toward the Fed's 2% target, and the central bank is now widely expected to cut interest rates next month.