Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic continued Thursday to back one interest rate cut this year, saying if federal policymakers wait too long for inflation to meet their 2% target, they risk "sapping too much momentum from the economy and the labor market."

Bostic made the remarks in an essay posted to the regional bank's website. While noting what he called "hopeful recent glimmers" in the U.S. economy, he conceded that persistent inflation likely means a slower path to meeting the Fed's target than he and his colleagues hoped. 

"Taking all the circumstances into account, I continue to believe conditions will likely call for a cut in the federal funds rate in the fourth quarter of this year," Bostic wrote.  "Still, the pandemic years have brought many surprises, and so I'm not locked into any particular policy path. There are plausible scenarios in which more cuts, no cuts, or even a raise could be appropriate. I will let the data and conditions on the ground be my guide." 

Investors have been making the case for a September cut to the current federal benchmark rate of 5.25% to 5.5%.

In separate speeches on Tuesday, Federal Governors Lisa Cook and Michelle Bowman both offered little insight into when policymakers would be comfortable enough to adjust the rate, citing too many economic uncertainties.

"Should the incoming data indicate that inflation is moving sustainably toward our 2% goal, it will eventually become appropriate to gradually lower the federal funds rate to prevent monetary policy from becoming overly restrictive," Bowman said in an address to the Policy Exchange think tank in London. "However, we are still not yet at the point where it is appropriate to lower the policy rate."