Monetary policy

The Federal Reserve needs to raise its benchmark rate above 4% by early next year and leave it there for some time to help cool inflation, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester reiterated on Wednesday.

Federal Reserve officials, picking up where they left off over the weekend in Jackson Hole, stressed their commitment to defeating inflation while remaining vague on how big their policy move will be next month.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the central bank will remain aggressive in fighting inflation despite promising economic data.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said U.S. inflation is very high and the central bank must act to bring it back under control.

Directors at two of the Federal Reserve's 12 regional branches favored a 100-basis-point increase in the discount rate in July, minutes of discount-rate meetings show.

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers called on the Federal Reserve to deliver a clear message saying it will need to impose "restrictive" monetary policy that drives up the U.S. unemployment rate in order to quell inflation.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said the central bank should raise interest rates "a little" above 3% by the end of the year to cool inflation, pushing back against investor bets that officials would then reverse course.

Two Federal Reserve officials responded to softening inflation data by saying it doesn't change the U.S. central bank's path toward even higher interest rates this year and next.

The Federal Reserve is committed to cooling inflation and needs to raise interest rates to a little above 4% to ease demand, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester said.

St. Louis Fed Bank President James Bullard said he favors a strategy of "front-loading" big interest-rate hikes, and he wants to end the year at 3.75% to 4%, while his Richmond counterpart, Thomas Barkin, said the central bank was committed to lowering inflation and a recession could happen.