Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said he expected inflation to “return to – or perhaps run somewhat above – our 2% longer-run goal in 2022 and 2023”. That would actually fit under the new policy framework. Though, he admitted that he was “surprised by higher-than-expected inflation data released today”. Still, “it’s important that pressures to inflation be transitory”.

Clarida also said that “the near-term outlook for the labor market appears to be more uncertain than the outlook for economic activity.” He added, “What this necessary rebalancing of labor supply and demand means for wage and price dynamics will depend importantly on the pace of recovery in labor force participation as well as the extent to which there are post-pandemic mismatches between labor demand and supply in specific sectors of the economy and how long any such imbalances persist.”

Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said in a speech, “we’ll keep the federal funds rate very low and continue making more than $100 billion in monthly Treasury bond and mortgage-backed securities purchases. While the economic situation is improving, recovery is still a work in progress, and there’s no reason to withdraw support yet.

“With so much fiscal support and monetary accommodation, there is some upside risk to increased inflation, and we will continue to monitor that closely. But for now, I’m forecasting 2.3 percent headline inflation for 2021 with core inflation at 2 percent,” he added.

Later he added, inflation is “not only a number”, but also “the rate of change”. He said 3% is probably the maximum inflation he would like to see. But he’d be more comfortable with inflation at around 2.5%. “We don’t want inflation to run out of control,” he said.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told CNBC, “I think it’s too early to talk taper here”. And, “we’re going to let the chair open that discussion when he thinks it’s appropriate.”

“We’re not quite out of the pandemic yet,” he added. “Once we get out of the pandemic, then I think it will be time to look at whether monetary policy can change.”

“I don’t think you really want to change policy while you’re still in the pandemic tunnel. Even though you can sort of see the end of the tunnel, we’re not there yet, and we’ve got to push hard till we get all the way to the end,” he said.

Fed Governor Lael Brainard said that the weak April NFP report “reminds us that realized outcomes can diverge from forward projections and underscores the value of patience”. Also, “to the extent that supply chain congestion and other reopening frictions are transitory, they are unlikely to generate persistently higher inflation on their own.”

“Remaining patient through the transitory surge associated with reopening will help ensure that the underlying economic momentum that will be needed to reach our goals as some current tailwinds shift to headwinds is not curtailed by a premature tightening of financial conditions,” she said.

Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said that while April job report was “disappointing”, “outlook is still bright”. She said, “no doubt we are in a recovery but will see some ups and downs.”

She wanted to see “see more strength in labor market and expecting that this year.” But, “until we get a broader vaccination rate, we won’t be back to normal.”

On inflation, she noted that readings will be “elevated” for the next few months “because of math”. “Inflation will end the year above 2% but next year, as supply constraints ease, will come back down.”

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said yesterday that with a job report like Friday’s NFP and the volatility, then, “we’re on a good path but we’re a long way from home”. “And when you’re a long way from home” she added, “it’s not yet time to start thinking about, thinking about, talking about relaxing the accommodations we’ve given.”

She also noted that “bottlenecks” like shipping costs and lumber shortages would “cause inflation to pop in the next several months”. Inflation might rise above 2% level, but that’s going to be transitory in my judgment,” Daly said.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans told CNBC today that “hopefully it is a one month kind of thing associated with restarting the economy,” referring to the huge NFP data miss last week. He added, “I am looking for continued strong employment growth the rest of the year”.

“Fed will have to watch carefully how wages impact inflation over time,” he said. “Inflation rates of 2.5% don’t bother me if they are leading the US to average 2% over time.”

He also noted, it’s “going to take quite some time for Fed to see enough data to shift policy.”