With the economy now clearly losing steam, based on the drop in GDP from 3rd to 4th quarters, and general macro data coming in very weak (Zero Hedge, 2/18/15), I believe the Fed wants desperately to move those goalposts. But after a series of seemingly strong jobs reports, culminating with a strong 295,000 jobs in February, the market expects that “patient” will soon disappear from the statement. The Fed wants to comply, thereby signaling that everything is fine. But at the same time it doesn’t want the markets to conclude that rate hikes are imminent when it does.
In other words, they are searching for a way to drop the word “patient” without communicating a loss of patience. What? This is like a driver telling other drivers that she plans on engaging her turn signal before making a left, but then wonders how to hit the blinker without actually creating an expectation that a turn is imminent.
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