Factbox: Fed officials' comments on the economy, policy

(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve gave the U.S. economy a lukewarm assessment after its two-day policy meeting, keeping rates near zero and leaving intact plans to purchase $600 billion in longer-term Treasury bonds through June to support the recovery.

The U.S. central bank said the recovery has not been fast enough to bring much improvement the labor market, and called measures of underlying inflation "somewhat low." The Fed's bond-buying program is aimed both at reducing the unemployment rate, which registered 9.4 percent in December, and lifting the rate of inflation closer to its 2 percent target.

The following are some recent comments from Fed policymakers (* denotes 2011 voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets U.S. monetary policy):

FEDERAL OPEN MARKET COMMITTEE STATEMENT, January 26

"The economic recovery is continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring about a significant improvement in labor market conditions...Although commodity prices have risen, longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable, and measures of underlying inflation have been trending downward."

* FED BOARD GOVERNOR DANIEL TARULLO, January 14

"At the moment and looking forward, one doesn't see at this juncture any signs of upward significant pressure on inflation."

BOSTON FED PRESIDENT ERIC ROSENGREN, January 14

"There will be a time when these aggressive actions need to be reversed, but first we need to get the economy on a much more solid footing ... When we do start getting closer to full employment, that is the time that my preference would be for fiscal policy to tighten, actually before monetary policy."

RICHMOND FED PRESIDENT JEFFREY LACKER, January 14

"While the outlook may not have improved enough just yet to warrant adjusting our purchase plan in the near-term, I anticipate earnest reevaluation as economic developments unfold in coming months."

* FED CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE, January 13

"We see the economy strengthening. It has looked better in the last few months. We think a 3 to 4 percent-type of growth number for 2011 seems reasonable. That's not going to reduce unemployment at the pace we'd like it to, but certainly it would be good to see the economy growing and that means more sales, more business."

* DALLAS FED PRESIDENT RICHARD FISHER, January 12

"Barring some unexpected shock to the economy or financial system, I think we have reached our limit. I would be wary of further expanding our balance sheet."

* MINNEAPOLIS FED PRESIDENT NARAYANA KOCHERLAKOTA, January 11

"There is little or no economic theory to support a connection between monetary policy, as typically conducted in the United States, and bubble formation."

* PHILADELPHIA FED PRESIDENT CHARLES PLOSSER, January 11

"The aggressiveness of our accommodative policy may soon backfire on us if we don't begin to gradually reverse course."

ATLANTA FED PRESIDENT DENNIS LOCKHART, January 10

"The economy seems to have gained durable momentum as we begin 2011 ... While things are looking better, I don't expect a quick fix."

* DALLAS FED PRESIDENT RICHARD FISHER, January 10

"I expect the program (QE2) to be carried through."

* MINNEAPOLIS FED PRESIDENT NARAYANA KOCHERLAKOTA, January 10

"The bar is very high for me," Kocherlakota said, on what it would take to consider stopping short the Fed's planned $600 billion bond-purchase program. "There would have to be a disorderly reaction of some kind in inflation expectations or in the behavior of the dollar."

* FED BOARD VICE CHAIRWOMAN JANET YELLEN, January 8

"It will not be a panacea, but I believe it will be effective in fostering maximum employment and price stability," she said of QE2.

* CHICAGO FED PRESIDENT CHARLES EVANS, January 7

"I'm keeping an open mind about the $600 billion and beyond that."

* FED CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE, January 7

"We have seen increased evidence that a self-sustaining recovery in consumer and business spending may be taking hold ... Persistently high unemployment, by damping household income and confidence, could threaten the strength and sustainability of the recovery."

* FED GOVERNOR ELIZABETH DUKE, January 7

On the bond-buying program, she said there is "accumulating evidence that these and other asset purchases were successful in exerting downward pressure on long-term interest rates."

* CHICAGO FED PRESIDENT CHARLES EVANS, January 7

"With unemployment too high and inflation too low -- and both forecast to stay that way over the next two years -- we have missed on both of our policy objectives ... Accommodative monetary policy continues to be necessary for achieving each of these goals.

KANSAS CITY FED PRESIDENT THOMAS HOENIG, January 6

"I believe these actions risk creating a new set of imbalances, or bubbles."

(Reporting by Kristina Cooke, Pedro Nicolaci da Costa, Mark Felsenthal, Ann Saphir and Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)