The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept interest rates in a range between 4.25%-4.5% and kept two cuts in 2025 on the table.
by Yeo Boon Ping
NBC New York
At U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s post-meeting press conference, the topic of tariffs — specifically, their impact on prices — was a recurring one.
“Everyone that I know is forecasting a meaningful increase in inflation in coming months from tariffs because someone has to pay for the tariffs,” Powell said. “And some of it will fall on the end consumer.”
Granted, recent economic data has been upbeat, suggesting the U.S. economy has been able to — and could still — escape from tariffs mostly unscathed.
In May, a better-than-expected 139,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2%. Consumer sentiment in early June was much more optimistic than forecast, according to a University of Michigan survey. And, most crucially, inflation in May — based on the consumer price index — ticked up just 0.1% for the month, lower than estimated.