Dow Jones Newswires - The U.S. economy is slowing down, albeit at a glacial pace, and this should help inflation continue to gradually cool, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic said Monday.
"We do a lot of talking to business leaders, and what they're all telling us is that things are slowing down," Bostic said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
The other thing the executives say is that pricing power is weakening, Bostic said.
"My outlook is that inflation will continue to fall for this year and into 2025," he said, adding that prices will, however, drop at a slower pace than many had expected.
Bostic said there was no change in his forecast on the Fed's interest-rate policy. He has said that he expects one rate cut this year, occurring in the October-December quarter.
Rather than focus on the number of cuts this year, Bostic said the key question is when the Fed will be certain that inflation is clearly on a path to 2%.
"I think it is going to take a while before we know that for sure," Bostic said.
The Fed has held its benchmark rate between 5.25% and 5.5% since last July. That's the highest rate since 2001, and it could be slowing the economy down.
The labor market is weaker than it was 12 months ago, but it is not soft, Bostic said.
Sumber : Dow Jones Newswires
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