Dive Brief:

• Two Federal Reserve officials said this week the U.S. economy was not strong enough in the first quarter to warrant an increase in short-term interest rates.

• During a speech in Hartford, CT, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston chief Eric Rosengren said he would like to see an interest rate hike “as soon as possible” but urged “continued patience” among Federal Reserve policy-makers so that job and economic growth can take root, The Wall Street Journal reported. “The economic conditions haven’t been right” for a rate hike so far, he said.

• And in her first speech as a member of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, Lael Brainard said Tuesday she does not endorse a June rate hike, as some have predicted. “Consumer spending so far this year has been undeniably weak,” she said in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, pointing to Friday’s Commerce Department report saying the economy declined by 0.7% in the first quarter of the year.

Dive Insight:

An increase in short-term interest rates is expected to translate into a slight bump in the cost of 30-year mortgages, which some have said could sway potential homeowners toward renting rather than buying.

Goldman Sachs Chief Economist Jan Hatzius forecast in an email to clients Tuesday that interest rates will rise in September rather than in June, as some had forecast. But he noted “a strong risk management case for delaying liftoff.”