Monetary policy

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.

The U.S. economy won’t be able to avoid a bout of stagflation and markets have yet to tune into the risk of a significant slowdown in growth, said Mohamed El-Erian.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he supports the central bank’s plan to raise interest rates in half-percentage-point steps at coming meetings.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said no one should doubt the U.S. central bank’s resolve to curb the highest inflation in decades, including pushing rates into restrictive territory if needed.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the current Fed leaders were too slow to react to surging U.S. inflation and as a result face a period of stagflation, or a combination of stagnant growth and high inflation.

“Unless there are some big surprises, I expect it to be appropriate to raise the policy rate another 50 basis points at each of our next two meetings,” Mester said Friday.

The Senate voted to confirm Jerome Powell for a second four-year term as Federal Reserve chair on Thursday, trusting him to tackle the highest inflation to confront the country in decades.

During his confirmation hearing, Jefferson’s experience and commitment to follow the Fed’s limited mandates had earned Republican plaudits, while Democrats have praised his research on poverty and the diversity he’ll add to the board.

Logan, 49, currently oversees implementation of the Fed’s monetary policy as manager of the Fed’s $9 trillion securities portfolio and executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she has led Market Operations, Monitoring and Analysis since 2012.

Mohamed El-Erian, a closely followed bond-market strategist, says the Federal Reserve has a trust problem with financial markets and the nation over inflation.

The U.S. economy will probably fall into a recession as the Federal Reserve combats multidecade-high inflation, Randal Quarles, the Fed’s former vice chair for supervision, said.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown said Wednesday that the Senate would wait to confirm President Biden’s Federal Reserve picks until the return of Democrats recovering from the coronavirus.