MNI: Fed's Bostic Inclined To Pause at June FOMC Meeting

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said Monday he is inclined to see the central bank pause at its next meeting in June, but remains open to additional hikes if economic data collectively show inflation is stronger than expected.

"I'm inclined to pause, but I think the Committee is still considering whether we should act at the next meeting," he told reporters. "There's a lot of data that's coming out between these two meetings and if they collectively showed that perhaps inflation was worsening, I think it'd be a different conversation as to how things will play out."

"I want to wait and see, get a sense of how long or how quickly the economy is responding to our policy," he said.

Bostic said he expects inflation to come down but noted it could be a "grind" to get it closer to the 2% target and added "there are going to be bumps along the road."

"The easy parts in the reduction of inflation have all been handled and now we are in the hard part of it and the hard part is likely take longer to resolve than you might think and people might hope, which means that inflation will come down slower," Bostic said.

"Its going to take continued resilience on our part or resoluteness if you will," he said on the sidelines of the Atlanta Fed's financial markets conference.