Fed officials signal potential for more rate hikes despite recent pause.

Federal Reserve officials struck a hawkish tone in their first comments since the central bank held the policy interest rate steady at its meeting this week but signaled that rate hikes will likely resume. Recent declines in headline inflation have been driven largely by food and energy prices, volatile commodities whose price swings can mask underlying inflation trends. Excluding those goods, the personal consumption expenditures price index as of April was increasing at a 4.7% annual pace, more than twice the central bank's target. The Fed this week ended its run of 10 consecutive rate hikes when policymakers decided to keep the benchmark overnight interest rate in a range of from 5% to 5.25%.