Chicago Fed President Goolsbee said U.S. inflationary pressure has spread beyond energy- and tariff-related areas into broader sectors of the economy, and that robust demand driven by artificial intelligence infrastructure construction is further driving up prices. Inflation, he noted, is currently not on a trajectory to return to the Fed's 2% target. He pointed out that inflation is no longer a temporary issue and that AI data center construction is fueling related demand growth, making price pressures more persistent. Combined with services inflation and rising healthcare costs that are unlikely to ease significantly in the near term—and with wage growth being a lagging indicator of inflation—current price pressures cannot be judged on wage data alone. He stressed that the Fed needs to maintain its credibility in controlling inflation and that if economic demand continues to overheat, inflation risks cannot be ignored; upcoming inflation data will determine whether to accelerate the pace of rate hikes. He also warned that even if international oil prices fall rapidly, U.S. refining capacity remains constrained, and diesel and jet fuel prices may stay elevated, prolonging the impact of energy costs on inflation.