NEW YORK (Reuters) – Easy money policies are bringing some relief to lower-income Americans hard-hit in the recession and the easing could become increasingly potent as the housing market recovers, a top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday.

In a speech on equality and the economy, Fed Governor Sarah Raskin backed the policy accommodation and argued it would continue to help the overall economic recovery. But the long-running trend of inequality and stagnating wages in the United States has slowed that rebound, she said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve’s ultra accommodative policies will inevitably result in financial-market instability for years but such risks are necessary to boost employment and inflation, a top U.S. central bank official said on Thursday.

Likening the Fed to a Minnesotan heading out into the winter cold, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said low real interest rates are as necessary as wearing a warm parka, and will probably be needed for many more years.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Regulators must do more to address the lingering risks that broker-dealers pose to U.S. financial markets, a top U.S. Federal Reserve official said on Wednesday.

In a speech, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren bemoaned the lack of meaningful reforms since the failures of Bear Stearns and, especially, Lehman Brothers set off the worst of the global financial crisis in 2008.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve should buy bonds if inflation continues to fall, a top Fed official said on Wednesday, stressing the U.S. central bank needs to prevent inflation from being too far below its target.

Still, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard cautioned that more monetary policy accommodation is not yet needed and said he does not currently fear deflation.

NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve should
buy bonds if inflation continues to fall, a top Fed official
said on Wednesday, stressing the U.S. central bank needs to
prevent inflation from being too far below its target.

Still, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard cautioned that
more monetary policy accommodation is not yet needed and said he
does not currently fear deflation.

CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – A handful of Federal Reserve policy doves on Tuesday showed no sign they were prepared to dial down the U.S. central bank’s extraordinary accommodation any time soon, even though one gave a highly optimistic outlook that the economy will turn the corner next year.

Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed, forecast moderate growth this year of 2.5 percent, but gave a hearty endorsement of the economy’s trajectory, saying he expects 2014 to be “terrific.”

CHICAGO/NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) – Two top Federal
Reserve policy doves offered clashing views on the U.S. economic
outlook on Tuesday, although both agreed the job market has not
yet improved enough to merit any cuts to the central bank’s
bond-buying program.

The influential chief of the New York Fed, William Dudley,
told the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce he expects “sluggish”
economic growth of 2 to 2.5 percent this year and only a modest
decline in unemployment.