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The Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy setting arm, meets today and tomorrow amid growing speculation that the Fed is setting the stage for an interest-rate increase – but probably not before September.

So-called monetary policy normalization is expected by most Fed watchers to begin later this year.

In releasing the June FOMC meeting minutes a few weeks ago, the Fed signaled that conditions had not yet been met for a rate hike.

The minutes noted that "additional information on the outlook, particularly for labor markets and inflation, would be necessary before deciding to implement such an increase."

However, NAFCU Chief Economist and Director of Research Curt Long said that the June minutes "show that we are approaching the necessary conditions for liftoff."

In an FOMC meeting preview onBankrate.com, Long was quoted as saying that an uptick in inflation in the coming months would likely alleviate the FOMC's fears stagnant price growth that has consistently run below target since the recession.

The federal funds target rate has remained at a range of 0 to 0.25 percent since December 2008.