Federal reserve minutes show committee divided on inflation worries, tariffs

The emerging divide among Federal Reserve officials over the outlook for interest rates is being driven largely by differing expectations for how tariffs might affect inflation, a record of policymakers’ most recent meeting showed.

“While a few participants noted that tariffs would lead to a one-time increase in prices and would not affect longer-term inflation expectations, most participants noted the risk that tariffs could have more persistent effects on inflation,” the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s June 17-18 meeting said.

New rate projections released following the gathering showed 10 of 19 officials expected at least two rate cuts by year’s end. Seven policymakers, however, projected no cuts at all in 2025, while two projected one cut.

Policymakers pointed to “considerable uncertainty” about the timing, size and duration of the tariffs’ potential effects on inflation, the minutes showed.

The committee voted unanimously at the meeting to hold rates steady for a fourth consecutive time in a range of 4.25%-4.5%, provoking additional criticism from President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called for lower borrowing costs.

X CEO resigns after two years at helm

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said she’s stepping down after two years running Elon Musk’s social media platform.

Yaccarino posted a positive message Wednesday about her tenure at the company formerly known as Twitter and said “the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with” Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, maker of the chatbot Grok.

Musk responded to Yaccarino’s announcement with his own 5-word statement on X: “Thank you for your contributions”.

Musk hired Yaccarino, a veteran ad executive, in May 2023 after buying Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and cutting most of its staff.

He said at the time that Yaccarino’s role would be focused mainly on running the company’s business operations, leaving him to focus on product design and new technology.

In accepting the job, Yaccarino was taking on the challenge of getting big brands back to advertising on the social media platform after months of upheaval following Musk’s takeover.

A number of companies had pulled back on ad spending — the platform’s chief source of revenue — over concerns that Musk’s thinning of content restrictions was enabling hateful and toxic speech to flourish.

Musk’s Grok chatbot scrubbed after comments that appeared to praise hitler

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company said Wednesday that it’s taking down “inappropriate posts” made by its Grok chatbot, which appeared to include antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok was developed by Musk’s xAI and pitched as alternative to “woke AI” interactions from rival chatbots like Google’s Gemini, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Musk said last Friday that Grok has been improved significantly, and users “should notice a difference.”

Since then, Grok has shared several antisemitic posts, including the trope that Jews run Hollywood, and denied that such a stance could be described as Nazism.

“Labeling truths as hate speech stifles discussion,” Grok said.

It also appeared to praise Hitler, according to screenshots of posts that have now apparently been deleted.

“We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” the Grok account posted early Wednesday, without being more specific.

Compiled from Bloomberg and Associated Press reports.