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Federal Reserve Watch for Aug. 4: Paulson Says Keeping 'Open Mind' on Path of Monetary Policy

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Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson (voter) said that she is "keeping an open mind" regarding the path of monetary policy and will allow incoming information to determine whether the current level of restrictiveness is appropriate to slow inflation or if more is required.

Recent comments of note:

(Aug. 3) New York Fed President John Williams (voter) said in an interview with Reuters that monetary policy is appropriate to continue to put downward pressure on inflation, but it may be necessary to act if that is not the case.

(July 31) Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari (voter) published a note explaining that he dissented from the FOMC's decision to hold its target rate steady because he believes that the Fed has a role to prevent temporary inflation increases from supply shocks from turning into entrenched inflation and that he prefers gradual rate increases to suddenly raising rates when the need arises.

(July 31) Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan (voter) said that she dissented in favor of a rate increase at the FOMC meeting due to elevated inflation, saying that "(m)odest action in the near term would reduce the likelihood of needing to take sharper action later."

(July 31) Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack (voter) said that she dissented due to inflation being "too high for too long" and that the longer it remains elevated, the more difficult and costly it will be for the FOMC to bring it down. She added that high inflation is a larger issue than slow employment growth at the moment.

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