Skip, pause or hike? A guide to what is expected from the Fed on Wednesday.

The markets and many economists expect the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged this week while keeping the door open for a hike as soon as the next meeting in July — a “hawkish pause” that some Fed officials are calling a “skip.”

“We expect there to be close to full consensus to pause in June, but be very open to hiking in July and beyond if inflation progress is not satisfactory,” said Steve Englander, head of North America macro strategy at Standard Chartered Bank, summing up the mainstream view.

Fed…