‘FEARS INFLATED’

Fed boss Powell: Price rises only temporary

Larry Fink CEO, BlackRock

Jamie Dimon CEO, JPMorgan Chase

David Solomon CEO, Goldman Sachs

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stubbornly insisted Wednesday that the economy’s recent bout of inflation is temporary, even as new data stoked concerns among Wall Street bigwigs that higher prices could be here to stay.

“Inflation has increased notably and will likely remain elevated in coming months before moderating,” Powell told the House Financial Services Committee.

A strong rebound in demand led by Americans emerging from the pandemic has collided with pandemic-related production bottlenecks and shortages to send prices soaring, Powell said.

But, he argued, those price increases “should partially reverse as the effects of the bottlenecks unwind.”

Powell has cited his view that the recent inflation is temporary as part of why the Fed won’t taper its ultra-easy monetary policy.

He told lawmakers that much of the recent price pressure is coming from just a few industries, such as used cars and airline tickets.

“It’s just a perfect storm of high demand and low supply and it should pass. Unless we think there’s gonna be a multiyear, many-year shortage of used cars in the United States, we should look at this as temporary.”

But other rising prices, such as in housing, which went up 2.6 percent from a year ago, could be signs that inflation is creeping into parts of the economy where rising costs might not be able to reverse it.

On Tuesday, the Labor Department announced that its Consumer Price Index, which measures a basket of goods and services as well as energy and food costs, jumped 5.4 percent in June from a year earlier, the fastest pace in almost 13 years.

That has some on Wall Street concerned that inflation isn’t going away soon.

“I worry about inflation. I do not believe inflation is going to be transitory,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink told CNBC on Wednesday. “It’s going to be more systematic over time.

“How the Federal Reserve and how other central banks navigate that is going to be very important,” he added.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, also questioned the Fed’s take on inflation.

“Inflation could be worse than people think. I think it’ll be a little bit worse than what the Fed thinks. I don’t think it’s only temporary,” he said during the bank’s post-earnings conference call with investors Tuesday.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon added that there’s “no question” inflation has ticked up.

wfeuer@nypost.com

Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, told a congressional committee Wednesday that current inflation is caused by a postlockdown jump in demand conflicting with a pandemic-led delay of supply.

I worry about inflation. I do not believe inflation is going to be transitory.

Inflation could be worse than people think. I think it’ll be a little bit worse than what the Fed thinks.

‘inflation There’s “no question” has ticked up.