The statement took a modest step toward becoming more forward looking. That is the direction we see of communication more generally.

The most provocative interpretation is that market participants anticipated that the committee was going to become more democratic once Greenspan departed and began to pay more attention to the comments by other FOMC members.

The most provocative interpretation is that market participants anticipated that the committee was going to become more democratic once Greenspan departed, and hence began to pay more attention to the comments by other FOMC members.

Markets are certainly focused on people who speak effectively about macroeconomic issues and the outlook for policy. The key issue here may be whether they choose to speak clearly and forcefully about near- term economic issues.

The committee has been very clear about what its strategy is. It expects to continue to tighten, but it doesn't know how much farther it has to go, and those decisions will depend on the incoming data.

He will stress the nature of the initial conditions: an economy at full employment likely to be growing at an above-trend rate in the first half of this year, and inflation already near the upper end of the comfort zone.