Cleveland Fed Pres. Mester: Monetary policies restrictive. Neutral rate may be higher

President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Meester says:

• Monetary policy is restrictive.
• Inflation progress stalled in the first three months
• The April CPI report was good news, but it is too early to know what path inflation is taking
• Labor markets have become more balanced
• Rebalancing the labor market will put downward pressure on inflation.
• We need to gather more evidence about the path of inflation to determine whether it is heading sustainably towards 2%.
• In the first part of the year, appropriate risk was very constrained and declined.
• Inflation risks tend to be to the upside.
• I'm not thinking about a possible rate cut in terms of when.
• The interest rate cut depends on the progress of inflation.
• The lack of progress on inflation was not welcome.
• There is no risk in spending more time collecting data on inflation because the economy is strong.
• Monetary policy is moderating demand, but not as quickly as expected.
• I still think inflation will come down.
• But inflation will not fall quickly.
• Politics is well placed to take risks on either side.
• If there is an unexpected deterioration on the real side of the economy, interest rates could be lowered.
• It can maintain or even raise interest rates if inflation stalls against expectations or reverses.
• We have to be careful in monitoring the economy.
• The neutral rate may be higher than previously thought. I raised my rating for her in March.
• Previously I was expecting three rate cuts this year, and I don't think this is still appropriate.

Meester is scheduled to retire as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in June. As a result, her comments became more outward than inward.

I don't think any Fed officials are looking to do anything in June (for now), except sit back, and her comments are consistent with the Fed being on hold, content to see more data given the strength of the economy and the strength of the economy. The risk of worsening inflation.