Fed Governor Christopher Waller said that “a barrage of data” in February has challenged high view that FOMC was “making progress in moderating economic activity and reducing inflation.”

“It could be that progress has stalled, or it is possible that the numbers released last month were a blip,” he said.

“If job creation drops back down to a level consistent with the downward trajectory seen late last year and CPI inflation pulls back significantly from the January numbers and resumes its downward path, then I would endorse raising the target range for the federal funds rate a couple more times, to a projected terminal rate between 5.1 and 5.4 percent,” he said.

“On the other hand, if those data reports continue to come in too hot, the policy target range will have to be raised this year even more to ensure that we do not lose the momentum that was in place before the data for January were released,” he added.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said yesterday, “there is the case that could be made that we need to go higher” on interest rate.

“Consumer spending is strong and labor markets remain quite tight and that those suggest that the economy’s strength could be a bit more than people think, which means we might need to do more.”

“I’m going to stay open to any possibility that if data come in stronger than expected then I will adjust my policy trajectory,” Bostic said.

Boston Fed President Susan Collins said yesterday, “we will need to do some additional rate increases and exactly what the right amount is really needs to be dependent on a holistic review of the information that we receive.”

“It will be important to hold there for some time because it takes a while for the effects of tighter financial conditions to work through the economy,” she added.

“We’ve seen some early signs that wage and price pressures might be slowing,” she said. “But we’ve also seen some evidence that high inflation” remains, particularly in some areas of services.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said Fed should hike by 50bps to 5.00-5.25%, and hold it at that level until well into 2024. “We must determine when inflation is irrevocably moving lower,” he wrote in an essay. “We’re not there yet.”

“That’s why I think we need to raise the federal funds rate to between 5-5.25% and leave it there well into 2024. This will allow tighter policy to filter through the economy and ultimately bring aggregate supply and aggregate demand into better balance and thus lower inflation.”

“If we are going to get inflation back in the range of our target, the breadth of inflation will have to narrow considerably,” Bostic wrote. “When inflation is no longer top of mind, our mission will largely be accomplished. We are clearly not there yet. But I—and the Committee—are committed to doing all we can to ensure that we get there as soon as possible.”

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari he is “open-minded” on either a 25bps or a 50bps rate hike at the March meeting. But he also noted, “I think my colleagues agree with me that the risk of under-tightening is greater than the risk of over-tightening

Karikari also said, “what’s more important is what we signal in the dot plot… At this point I haven’t decided what my dot is, but I would lean towards continuing to push up my rate and policy path,”

“Given the data in the last month — the inflation report and strong jobs report — these are concerning data points suggesting we’re not making progress as fast as we’d like,” Kashakri said. “At same time we don’t want to overreact.”