Persistently high inflation is causing a split among Federal Reserve officials over next steps

The stubbornness of high inflation is dividing the Federal Reserve over how to manage interest rates in the coming months, leaving the outlook for the Fed’s policies cloudier than at any time since it unleashed a streak of 10 straight rate hikes in March 2022. Many Fed watchers have expected the officials to forgo another increase in their benchmark rate when they next meet in mid-June. Yet recent warnings from several of them about the continuing inflation threat suggest that that outcome is far from certain. On Thursday, Lorie Logan of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said she believes that the economic data so far doesn’t support a pause in the central bank’s rate hikes next month.