fed may not decrease interest rates until inflation goes down.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, in remarks that skirted any mention of interest rate cuts, said the U.S. central bank was ready to keep its tight monetary policy in place if inflation fails to slow as expected.

Opening a day of updated messaging from the central bank's leadership, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell due to speak at a forum at 1:15 p.m. EDT (1715 GMT), Jefferson's remarks to a Fed research conference excluded key phrases about gaining “confidence” in lower inflation and then cutting rates, but noted the central bank was facing a strong economy and little recent progress on the pace of price increases.

Fed staff estimates that Jefferson released, in fact, indicate March will be another lost month for policymakers, with the personal consumption expenditures price index expected to have risen at a 2.7% annual rate versus 2.5% in the prior month.

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Now the first cut is seen in September, and the odds of even a second cut were falling after the U.S. government reported on Monday a 0.7% rise in retail sales in March that exceeded expectations in a Reuters poll of economists.