Boston Fed President Susan Collins said she could support a September rate hike if incoming data show inflation is not cooling enough, even after the Federal Reserve held rates steady in July and described policy as mildly restrictive. Consumer inflation rose from 2.4% in February to 4.2% in May before easing to 3.5% in June, when headline CPI fell 0.4% month over month and core CPI was around 2.6%, with the July report due Wednesday. Collins said businesses keep raising price concerns and that lower- and moderate-income households are increasingly struggling to make ends meet, especially in New England, where reliance on heating oil and oil-fired backup power leaves the region more exposed to higher energy costs. The backdrop also includes a widening divide in household finances, rising delinquencies and heavier reliance on credit among lower-income consumers, while July's loss of 23,000 jobs and a slowdown in average job growth to 20,000 over the previous three months from 73,000 in the first quarter complicate the Fed's balancing act.