02:54 PM EDT, 05/21/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Fed Governor Christopher Waller (voter) said recent inflation improvements, while welcome, have been small and that he needs to see "several more months" of progress before he can consider easing policy.

Recent comments of note:

(May 20) Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr (voter) said that the Federal Open Market Committee is in a "good position" to hold policy steady until there is more evidence that inflation is slowing toward the 2% goal.

(May 20) Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson (voter) repeated that monetary policy is in restrictive territory and said that he will assess incoming data when making judgements about future monetary policy.

(May 17) Fed Governor Michelle Bowman (voter) repeated her previous comments that monetary policy is not on a preset course and that the lack of progress on inflation means that she is not able to rule out the need for further rate tightening. She said she still expects inflation to slow down this year but said that she will be cautious about loosening monetary policy until there is further evidence of progress on inflation.

(May 16) Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic (voter) said that he expects inflation to continue to slow, resulting in rate cuts later in the year, but noted that outlook is not assured.

(May 16) Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester (voter) said that the current level of monetary policy is sufficient to address how the economy evolves, and it would be 'prudent' to leave policy there until the FOMC gains greater confidence in the progress on inflation.

(May 15) New York Fed President John Williams (voter) said in an interview with Reuters that he does not see a reason to either raise or lower interest rates at this point, saying that the current policy is well positioned currently.

(May 15) Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari (nonvoter) said that rates may need to remain elevated to assure that policy is restrictive enough to bring down inflation.