A stronger dollar and weak global inflation are putting downward pressure on the pace of price increases in the U.S. “The dollar, it puts downward pressure on our inflation,” Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans told a conference on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank fall meetings in Washington. The Fed is debating how long it will keep its benchmark interest rate near zero, and Evans is among the policymakers willing to hold rates low the longest, in part because he is troubled by persistently soft inflation.