Fed's Goolsbee: inflation is broadly "going the wrong way"
Investing.com -- Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said on Tuesday that the government's consumer inflation report for last month showed an unexpected rise in services inflation, indicating broader price pressures beyond oil and tariff-related increases.
Speaking to the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce in Rockford, Illinois, Goolsbee said inflation is "going the wrong way, and it's going the wrong way not just in oil-related things and not just in tariff-related things."
The drift upward in services inflation is a particular concern, Goolsbee noted. "Services inflation is the part that I'm nervous about. I want to see that at least stop growing and hopefully start going back down because that can't really be from oil prices," he said.
Goolsbee described the consumer price index report as containing "not much that's good" and called the services inflation increase the "unexpected disappointment" in the data.
On the labor market, Goolsbee said conditions remain stable but not good.
The Fed official also addressed central bank independence, stating he does not believe Fed independence is going away If U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is confirmed for the role. He warned that without central bank independence, inflation will come roaring back.
