The first data releases since Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh took office suggest that inflation has subsided, making his job a little easier. As yet there’s no case for a cut in interest rates, because the labor market is firm and year-over-year inflation is still running well above the Fed’s 2% target. For the moment, though, the case for higher rates is looking less persuasive.

This helps the new chairman: If the current policy rate of 3.5%-3.75% strikes investors as about right, he has less explaining to do. During his testimony to Congress last week, he wisely refrained from declaring victory and said the Fed shouldn’t read too much into a single month’s figures. Unfortunately, the job is likely to get harder from here.

Consumer prices actually fell in June for the first time in six years, thanks mainly to lower energy........

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