Persistently high inflation is causing a split among Federal Reserve officials over next steps
The stubbornness of high inflation is dividing the Federal Reserve over how to manage interest rates in the coming months, leaving the outlook for the Fed’s policies cloudier than at any time since it unleashed a streak of 10 straight rate hikes in March 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — The stubbornness of high inflation is dividing the Federal Reserve over how to manage interest rates in the coming months, leaving the outlook for the Fed's policies cloudier than at any time since it unleashed a streak of 10 straight rate hikes beginning in March 2022.
Many Fed watchers have expected the central bank's officials to forgo another increase in their benchmark rate when they next meet in mid-June. Yet recent warnings from several of the officials about the continuing threat from high inflation suggest that that outcome is far from certain.
On Thursday, Lorie Logan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said she believes that the economic data so far doesn't support a pause in the central bank's rate hikes next month.
“The data in coming weeks could yet show that it is appropriate to skip a meeting,” Logan said in written remarks to the Texas Bankers Association. “As of today, though, we aren't there yet.”
