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The big shift in the monetary policy statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve? Forget about the Fed keeping its key rate at "exceptionally low levels" until at least mid-2013. Now, the Fed has extended that timeline to late 2014 – meaning zero per cent federal funds rate for perhaps 18 months longer than the earlier range. (Exceptionally low, noted a colleague of mine, is not looking exceptional any more; it's the norm.)

Needless to say, the Fed doesn't sound too upbeat in its latest statement, marking an interesting contrast to some of the upbeat U.S. economic data that has been driving stocks higher in recent months. Housing numbers have shown improvement and last week's initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level in years.

Yet, the Fed remains cautious, leaving its impressions of the economy virtually unchanged since its statement on Dec. 13. It reiterated that the economy has been "expanding moderately," although it sounded more confident that there is a slowdown in global growth. And while last month the Fed said that business fixed income "appears to be increasing less rapidly," it now says that "growth in business fixed investment has slowed."

Meanwhile, it maintains that the housing sector "remains depressed."

Of course, the Fed's monetary policy statement is really just a preamble to more interesting fare – including Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's press conference in the afternoon and the release of the Fed's longer-term forecasts for interest rates. Stay tuned.

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