The FOMC statement is almost identical to the last one in Dec. The comments on both the economy and inflation were little changed and they still plan on keeping the end of Q1 deadline for the purchases of MBS/Agency debt. The key difference though is that one, Fed Pres Hoenig, believes that “economic and financial conditions had changed sufficiently that the expectation of exceptionally low levels of the fed funds rate for an extended period was no longer warranted.” My translation: the financial emergency that brought the fed funds rate to almost zero in Dec ’08 is no longer here and thus the Fed should adapt to a different, though still difficult, economic situation. He’s only one but at least there is some pushback to the extraordinary easy money policy that Ben only seems to know. We’ll see how long he’s the only one.
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