Fed's Bostic: today's inflation data shows path down will be bumpy

The latest personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index data shows that the path for inflation to return to the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate will be uneven, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said on Thursday.

"I expect things are going to be bumpy. From month to month, there are going to be events that drive components of these measures of inflation and could cause it to go up a little more, down a little more," Bostic said during an interview at a banking conference in Atlanta, Georgia, as he stressed the longer trend is more important.

Bostic also repeated his view that he sees the U.S. central bank beginning to cut rates "in the summer time," if the economy evolves as he expects.