Monetary policy

Susan Collins officially took office Friday as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, making history in becoming the first Black woman to lead a regional Fed bank.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy is in “strong shape” and the central bank can reduce inflation to 2% while maintaining a solid labor market.

Central bankers must not be complacent about increases in long-term inflation expectations and should act forcefully to curb rising price pressures, said Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester.

Federal Reserve officials will discuss whether to raise rates by 50 basis points or 75 basis points when they meet next month, with the decision being determined by economic data, New York Fed President John Williams said on Tuesday.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said she expects the central bank to raise interest rates to levels that restrain the economy.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said fears of a U.S. recession are overblown.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said she supports raising interest rates by 75 basis points again in July and following that with a few more half-point hikes.

The Federal Reserve has started a hiking cycle that's expected to continue with half-point increases in June and July, Marvin Loh, senior macro strategist at State Street Global Markets, will assess the June Federal Open Market Committee meeting and tell what he expects the panel to do in the future.

The U.S. central bank should raise interest rates as fast as it can without causing undue harm to financial markets or the economy, said Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said the risk of a recession in the U.S. economy is increasing, and that it will take several years to return to the central bank’s 2% inflation goal.

The Federal Reserve said it would do what is needed to get prices under control, reiterating that price stability is necessary to support a strong labor market and calling its commitment to reining in inflation “unconditional.”

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George said she opposed the Fed’s biggest interest-rate increase in almost three decades because the move, combined with the shrinking of the central bank’s balance sheet, created uncertainty about the outlook.

While a document search will not turn up the dreaded word “stagflation,” the minutes mention on multiple occasions that the FOMC sees risk to growth skewing toward the downside, and inflation risk to the upside.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said she favors raising interest rates this month and next but cautioned that pace could speed up or slow down from September.

George's departure will come around the same time that Chicago Fed chief Charles Evans steps down. Both will have turned 65.

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George said she expects the central bank to raise interest rates to 2% by August, with the further course of tightening being guided by how surging inflation cools off.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said policy makers could potentially pause interest-rate increases in September after hiking by a half point at each of their next two meetings.

The U.S. economy needs supply-side interventions rather than interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve that will fail to bring inflation under control, said Nobel laureate economist Joe Stiglitz.

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George said the “rough week in the equity markets” was not surprising, partially reflecting the central bank’s policy tightening, and doesn’t alter her support for half-point interest-rate hikes to cool inflation.

If the Federal Reserve raises its key interest rate somewhat above what it thinks is a “neutral” level for the economy and stops there, that should help bring inflation down from current elevated levels, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said.