Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said in a speech, while inflation has run below the 2% target it is “not that far-off target”. “With rounding, you could even call it on target.” The new framework allows “only a moderate” overshoot in inflation. “That moderation limits the risk of de-anchoring while sending a positive signal on inflation.”

He added that recent pick up in inflation is “just a natural rebound from a deflationary second quarter.”. While it’s possible that inflation could escalate in the near future, “I have to say I’m less worried about that possibility.” And, should inflation emerge, the Fed has the tools and the will to address it.”

Barkin’s full speech here.

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.

In an op-ed article published in the Financial Times, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Fed should use forward guidance now to stimulate the economy. He explained that “forward guidance can also provide stimulus by signalling that overnight rates will be low in the future.” That is, Fed can “influence long-term rates by giving guidance about the future path of their short-term equivalents. The firmer the Fed’s commitment, the more influence it can have.”

Kashkari added that “forward guidance should be used now, before the federal funds rate returns to zero.” He argued that “if a central bank cuts rates to zero in response to a downturn and then announces that it plans to keep rates low, that can actually be perceived as a sign of weakness rather than strength.” Instead, “it would be better to deploy guidance now in an effort to avoid hitting zero.

Regarding the guidance, he said “at a minimum, we should commit to not raising rates again until core inflation returns to our 2 per cent target on a sustained basis.”

Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said price inflation appeared “less responsive to resource slack” in recent decades. A “flatter Phillips curve permits the Federal Reserve to support employment more aggressively during downturns”. But it also increases the cost of “reversing unwelcome increase in long-run inflation expectations.

He added that a “flatter Phillips curve makes it all the more important that inflation expectations remain anchored at levels consistent with our 2 percent inflation objective”. For now, based on the evidence reviewed, he judged that US inflation expectations “do reside in a range that I consider consistent with our price stability mandate”.

Clarida’s full speech here.