Make no mistake. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was sending a strong signal of possible further easing in a major policy address at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank's annual symposium on "Macroeconomic Challenges: The Decade Ahead."

No bones about it, Bernanke and his Federal Open Market Committee colleagues, with some exceptions, are ready to jump back in with additional quantitative easing if they conclude that the outlook for economic growth and/or price stability deteriorates. And it may not take a lot for the Fed to move.

As the economy continued to churn out, at best, mixed numbers this past week, Fed officials openly spoke about the possibility that further monetary stimulus may be needed, even while warning against the consequences of maintaining the pledge to hold the federal funds rate near zero "for an extended period."

There was no indication of any change of heart on monetary policy from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in his Charleston, S.C. speech.

Some have speculated the Fed might resort to more quantitative easing as soon as next week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Such talk was amplified when St. Louis Fed President James Bullard warned last week the U.S. could suffer Japan-style deflation and mused about buying more Treasury bonds. But Bernanke gave no hint he favors making an already accommodative policy even more so at this time.

Federal Reserve policymakers had to know how their latest Federal Open Market Committee statement would be taken: as an extension of the "extended period."

It was not surprising, of course, that the FOMC left the federal funds rate target between zero and 25 basis points. Nor was it surprising that the FOMC "continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period."

At mid-year, the Fed's policymaking Federal Open Market Committee convenes for two days of meetings to reassess the economic outlook, revise its quarterly three-year forecast and prepare for Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's July Monetary Policy Report to Congress. Oh yes, and the FOMC will set the monetary policy course for the next six weeks or so.