The Federal Reserve could have given a blunter signal that it will raise interest rates next month, but its rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee clearly, if subtly, opened the door to a June rate hike as it concluded two days of meetings Wednesday.

There is almost no chance the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its third Federal Open Market Committee meeting of the year, but the deliberations of Chairman Jerome Powell and his fellow policymakers will still be important.

The Federal Reserve is still waiting for the price index for personal consumption expenditures (PCE), its preferred inflation gauge, to hit its 2% target, but there are other signs wage-price pressures may be building, the latest being findings of the Fed's new survey of conditions in its 12 districts.

With President Trump set to nominate Richard Clarida as Federal Reserve Vice Chairman two weeks after the naming of John Williams as New York Federal Reserve Bank president, Chairman Jerome Powell can look forward to soon having an able leadership team.

Slowly but surely, the Federal Reserve’s inflation mood has changed – the latest straw in the wind being warnings from Boston Federal Reserve Bank Eric Rosengren.

The word is that the Senate will vote in May on Marvin Goodfriend's nomination to become a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Signs of increased sentiment for more aggressive monetary tightening can be found in minutes of the March 20-21 Federal Open Market Committee meeting, but it's still far too early to conclude the Federal Reserve's policymaking body is on the verge of increasing interest rates faster than FOMC participants projected last month.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams made clear Friday he will back continued gradual but steady monetary tightening when he becomes New York Federal Reserve Bank President in a few months.

When the Federal Open Market Committee raised the federal funds rate another 25 basis points two weeks ago and made modest increases in its rate projections over the next three years, there was concern about how much further the Federal Reserve's policymaking body might raise rates.

One reason the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates relatively low and stayed on a gradual rate raising trajectory has been the slow response of labor compensation to tightening labor markets, and the March employment report does little to change that thinking.