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PARSING THE FED

The online WSJ writes:

THE FED'S STATEMENTS reflect how the members of the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee perceive the economy. The slightest changes are scrutinized for clues about where interest rates may be headed. With Greenspan stepping down and Bernanke set to replace him, January's statement will be read particularly closely.

The Jan. 31 statement announced that the Fed was raising its key short-term interest rate by one-quarter point to 4.5%, its 14th increase in a row. In a sign that rate increases may be nearing an end, the Fed also removed the word "measured," which had come to signal steady quarter-point increases ahead. Below is a look at differences between the January statement and the December one.

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Click for larger graphic

courtesy of WSJ

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Source:
PARSING THE FED
One More for the Road
WSJ, Jan. 31, 2006
http://online.wsj.com/documents/info-fedparse0601.html

Tuesday, January 31, 2006 | 03:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
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Comments

So we are left where we were a month ago -- waiting to see what the data shows.

So does this increase the odds that this will be another example of overshooting?

Posted by: spencer | Jan 31, 2006 3:21:49 PM

I remember the time when the risk was that removing 'measured' would have signalled that the Fed was preparing to tighten more aggressively than in increments of more than 25 bps. Oh how the times have changed.

Posted by: Abobtrader | Feb 1, 2006 9:07:18 PM

Who has been cooking the books in the Fed. Greenspan or Ken Lay? Think about this, If corporate America can do it, what keeps the Feds from doing it?
I am rather dumb to how inflation works ,but I think the economy goes up so does the lending rate [Yes, no, Maybe] can't raise taxes so let's raise the interest rate and maybe we can look good and say I was told the wrong intelligence, uhaaa data, uhaaa,information. Think about this, they raise the lending rates right after Ford announces the biggest lay off in history, and the economy say's it is allright to raise the rate?
I don't think so , My 8 year old has better accounting abilities than this kind of books.
Now we can pay for what ever we want to. The poor keep geeting poorer and the war goes on. Thank You

Posted by: fred | Feb 3, 2006 3:52:38 AM