Four Federal Reserve regional bank presidents who vote onmonetary policy this year see less of a need for the Fed to spurthe economy with new accommodation.

“The probability of needing to do additional stimulus is lower,”San Francisco Fed President John Williams told reporters yesterday.Cleveland's Sandra Pianalto, Atlanta's Dennis Lockhart andRichmond's Jeffrey Lacker also spoke against additionalaccommodation this week, with Lacker saying yesterday he “wassurprised a couple months ago at the probability marketparticipants seemed to ascribe to further easing.”

The presidents' comments echo the minutes of the Fed's March 13meeting, in which a “couple of” participants called for easing only“if the economy lost momentum” or if inflation fell below its 2percent target. Fed officials will hold the main interest rateclose to zero at least through 2014, a date “subject to revision inresponse to significant changes in the economic outlook,” accordingto the minutes released on April 3.