02:20 PM EDT, 05/28/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari (nonvoter) said in an interview with CNBC that it would take "many more months of positive inflation data" to convince him that rate cuts are appropriate, noting in a speech later that the mostly likely scenario is for rates to remain elevated for an "extended period of time."

Fed Governor Michelle Bowman (voter) said that she would have considered waiting before slowing the pace of securities roll-offs, noting that inflation remains elevated. The FOMC voted at its April 30-May 1 meeting to reduce the pace of sales of securities on its balance sheet, but minutes of that meeting released on May 22 showed that a few members were in favor of delaying that decision.

Recent comments of note:

(May 24) Fed Governor Christopher Waller (voter) said that the rising supply of Treasury securities could put upward pressure on the long-term natural interest rate, or R-star, but he said that only time will tell how much that impact would be, if at all. Waller did not make any comments on monetary policy or the economy in his prepared remarks.

(May 23) Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic (voter) said that improvement in inflation has slowed, suggesting that the FOMC needs more patience before bringing down interest rates.

(May 22) Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's April 30-May 1 meeting showed discussion about keeping rates higher for longer, and possibly lift rates higher if inflation progress does not reverse, but those discussions happened after a series of high inflation readings and before April data was released that showed slower inflation and employment growth.

(May 21) Fed Governor Christopher Waller (voter) said that 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. Later in the day, Waller said that he could see cutting rates at the end of the year or early in 2025.

(May 21) Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester (voter) said that she will need to see more evidence that rates are coming down, while Boston Fed President Susan Collins (nonvoter) said that patience is called for at this point. At the same conference, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said that the FOMC needs to remain cautious and is willing to wait longer to begin cutting rates, Reuters reported.