Federal Reserve officials made clear they are still worried about the still-elevated levels of inflation according to the minutes from the April 30-May 1 policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee that were released this afternoon. The meeting came on the heels of a number of readings that showed inflation has been more persistent than officials had expected at the beginning of the year.

"Participants observed that while inflation had eased over the past year, in recent months there had been a lack of further progress toward the Committee's 2 percent objective," the report said. "The recent monthly data had showed significant increases in components of both goods and services price inflation."

Not only have officials indicated they want to see several months of declining inflation data before they initiate rate cuts, but the minutes also showed "various participants mentioned a willingness to tighten policy further should risks to inflation materialize in a way that such an action became appropriate." This possibility has been raised before by some Fed officials and market participants but other Fed officials, including Chair Jerome Powell and Governor Christopher Waller, have said they doubt the next move would be a hike.