Four Federal Reserve regional bank presidents who vote on monetary policy this year see less of a need for the Fed to spur the 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 and Richmond's Jeffrey Lacker also spoke against additional accommodation this week, with Lacker saying yesterday he “was surprised a couple months ago at the probability market participants seemed to ascribe to further easing.”

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