FACTBOX: Fed policy-makers' recent comments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The following is a summary of recent comments by Fed policy-makers:

* Denotes 2007 voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets U.S. monetary policy.

*FED VICE CHAIRMAN DONALD KOHN, NOV 28:

"The increased turbulence of recent weeks partly reversed some of the improvement in market functioning over the late part of September and October," he said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

"Should the elevated turbulence persist, it would increase the possibility of further tightening in financial conditions for households and businesses," he said.

"Uncertainties about the economic outlook are unusually high right now," he said. "These uncertainties require flexible and pragmatic policymaking -- nimble is the adjective I used a few weeks ago."

"The one thing that has really changed since the last meeting is the deterioration in credit markets and financial markets," he said in response to a question.

"I think the losses that ... seem in train and have been announced were greater than people expected. This raised questions about financial institutions, how much capital they had, how vigorous they would be in pursuing new loans.

"Financial institutions became more cautious, and I think this process is one that we are going to have to take a look at when we meet in a couple of weeks," he said.

*CHICAGO FED PRESIDENT CHARLES EVANS, NOV 27:

"While the risk is still present of notably weaker-than-expected overall economic activity, given the policy insurance we have put in place I don't see this as likely," he told a Futures Industry Association conference in Chicago.

"As of today, I feel that the stance of monetary policy is consistent with achieving our dual mandate objectives and will help promote well-functioning financial markets."

PHILADELPHIA FED PRESIDENT CHARLES PLOSSER, NOV 27:

"In the current environment, providing insurance through a reduction in the fed funds rate creates its own set of additional risks," he said in a speech to the Rochester University Simon Graduate School of Business.

"A lower funds rate creates a risk that inflation may be exacerbated and inflationary expectations may begin to rise."

"In some circumstances, lowering interest rates may prolong the painful process of price discovery," he said.

"In my view, if the FOMC members already expected some bad economic numbers and had already taken those into account in their outlooks when they set the fed funds rate target, then you should only see policy-makers take action when the outlook changes significantly -- not on a few bits and pieces of news."

* FED BOARD GOVERNOR RANDALL KROSZNER, NOV 16:

"The current stance of monetary policy should help the economy get through the rough patch during the next year, with growth then likely to return to its longer-run sustainable rate."

On downside risks to growth being roughly balanced by upside risks to inflation: "The limited data and information received since the October FOMC meeting have not changed my thinking in this regard."

* ST. LOUIS FED PRESIDENT WILLIAM POOLE, NOV 16:

"If the fourth quarter comes in exactly as anticipated, and given that there's already been 75 basis points of easing, and given that we can't affect the fourth quarter anyway -- the fourth quarter is going to be irrelevant to the December decision unless it tells us something about next year we don't already know.

* KANSAS CITY FED PRESIDENT THOMAS HOENIG, NOV 15:

"I am not at all opposed to necessary actions either way for the future, but I think we need to be mindful and let this data come in ... Right now I'm more of a wait-and-see mode, at least until the December (11) meeting."

* FED CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE, NOV 14:

"FOMC participants will continue to base their projections on the assumption of 'appropriate' monetary policy. The extended projections will provide a sense of the economic trajectory that Committee participants see as best fulfilling the Federal Reserve's dual mandate."

DALLAS FED PRESIDENT RICHARD FISHER, NOV 14:

"We're data dependent. I'm not forecasting one way or another, but I just want to point out that not all the risks are to the downside."

* FED CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE, NOV 8:

"The decline in the dollar has the potential to raise import prices and contribute to inflation and therefore we are very attentive to that risk.

"We're going to make sure that the inflationary impact that may come from the weakening dollar is not passed into broader prices and become part of the underlying inflation rate.

"Should inflation expectations begin to move up and inflation begins to rise, it would be very costly for us to have to bring that back down.

* ST. LOUIS FED PRESIDENT WILLIAM POOLE, NOV 7:

"It is easy to imagine a scenario where another rate cut is called for."

"It could be that the downdraft from the housing industry will spread to other sectors, which might require that recent rate cuts not be reversed, or even that additional rate cuts would be in order."

ATLANTA FED PRESIDENT DENNIS LOCKHART, NOV 7:

"Some anecdotal information contradicts the picture suggested by recent data," he said, on evidence of a business spending retrenchment in his region despite recent signs of resilience in the economy.

PHILADELPHIA FED PRESIDENT CHARLES PLOSSER, NOV 6:

In a New York Times interview, Plosser said he "would not be surprised" if fourth quarter growth came in at 1.0 percent to 1.5 percent. "That's already built into my forecast. The key here is that growth would have to be less than the forecast to cut rates again."

* FED BOARD GOVERNOR FREDERIC MISHKIN, NOV 5:

"In circumstances when the risk of particularly bad economic outcomes is very real, a central bank may want to buy some insurance and, so to speak, 'get ahead of the curve'".

"If, in their quest to reduce macroeconomic risk, policy-makers overshoot and ease policy too much, they need to be willing to expeditiously remove at least part of that ease before inflationary pressures become a threat."