00:00Federal Reserve officials said on Tuesday that the higher prices are coming on the back of rising U.S. import tariffs.
00:07With the open questions now whether the inflation shock will be fleeting or more persistent,
00:12Atlanta Fed President Rafael Bostic said businesses have shown a trend to pass down the cost of tariffs to end prices.
00:23Bostic, who now expects the U.S. Central Bank, will have to wait longer to have clarity about the economy's direction
00:29and make any changes to interest rates.
00:31He also anticipates only a single quarter percentage point cut in the Fed's policy rate this year
00:37and several months on the sidelines waiting for the effect of Trump administration's policies to become clear.
00:44So far, the main impact appears to be in sentiment surveys showing households and businesses are less confident about the economy horizon
00:52and expect higher inflation.
00:53In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Tuesday, Stephen Mirren, who chairs the White House's Council of Economic Advisers,
01:01pushed back the idea that the tariffs imposed by the administration so far and potentially added in coming weeks
01:07would result in meaningful inflation.
01:09But Fed officials and analysts say they expect the impact has just not filtered through yet to the economy.
01:16Walmart, the world's largest retailer and major importer of goods from China,
01:20said last week that the price increases work on the way, comments that drew a rebuff from President Donald Trump.
01:27The waiting game for Fed officials may prove a long one.
01:30The Central Bank has kept its policy rate in the current 4.25% to 4.50% range since December
01:38but says it will remain difficult to anticipate where the economy is heading
01:42until the tariff issue and other policies are settled for good
01:46and enough time lapses after that to gauge the impact.
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