The major change today was instead of saying 'an extended period of time' the Fed upped the ante by giving a very long time frame. Easy money until AT LEAST mid 2013. Translation: We are Japan.
The Committee currently anticipates that economic conditions--including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run--are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through mid-2013.
Makes me harken back to a story a few months back [May 19, 2011: Prepare for a Fed Hike... in 2018]
We also have 3 dissents, which is the most I can remember:
Voting against the action were: Richard W. Fisher, Narayana Kocherlakota, and Charles I. Plosser, who would have preferred to continue to describe economic conditions as likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period.
Full statement here.
Gold again surging :)
