The Federal Reserve began the first of two days of debate on interest rates on Tuesday, with analysts and traders widely expecting another pause -- and hoping for clues about a September rate cut.

The meeting began at 10:00 am local time (1400 GMT), the Fed said in a statement. Its decision will be published on Wednesday afternoon local time.

Fed officials have previously admitted to moving too slowly to stem an inflationary surge in 2021 and 2022, and have been wary of cutting rates too soon and accidentally reigniting inflation.

Recent data indicates that inflation continues to slow toward the US central bank's long-term target of two percent, while economic growth remains strong and the labor market is showing signs of coming into better balance.

Against this backdrop, analysts will be looking for the Fed to signal that it may soon move ahead with an interest rate cut.

"We continue to see the first 25bp (basis point) cut in September followed by two more reductions in November and December," Deutsche Bank economists wrote in a recent note to clients.

Futures traders currently see a probability of more than 95 percent that the Fed will keep rates unchanged this month, and a 100 percent probability that it will move at or before its following rate decision in September, according to CME Group data.