Fed, nearing bond-buying 'taper,' remains divided on inflation

NEW YORK: Despite a broadly shared view that the U.S. labor market has healed enough to allow the Federal Reserve to start reducing its monthly bond purchases as soon as next month, policymakers are sharply divided over inflation and what they should do about it.

Views expressed just in the last 24 hours ranged from worried to sanguine. Some policymakers are convinced that once pandemic-disrupted supply chains get back up and running, price rises will calm back down on their own. Others see a broadening out of inflation pressures as evidence they may not unless the Fed does more to combat it.