A look at how the Fed’s views on the timing of an interest rate increase have changed

A comparison of the Federal Reserve’s statements from its two-day meeting that ended Wednesday and its meeting January 27-28:

INTEREST RATES:

Now: The Fed no longer says it can be patient about raising rates: “Consistent with its previous statement, the (Fed) judges that an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate remains unlikely at the April FOMC meeting. The (Fed) anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate when it has seen further improvement in the labour market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2 per cent objective over the medium term.”

Then: “Based on its current assessment, the (Fed) judges that it can be patient in beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy.”