The U.S. Federal Reserve, which has raised its benchmark interest rate 3 times in a row since March last year, has signaled a cautious change of direction.

The most striking aspect of the Fed's statement after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regular meeting on Jan. 10 (local time) was the removal of the word "anticipate" from the statement issued in March, the previous meeting.

Regarding rate hikes last month, the Fed stated that it "expects further policy measures to tighten to be appropriate."

However, in this meeting, the word "expected" has been removed from this sentence.

Instead, the Fed lowered its tone on tightening by saying that "further action may be appropriate."

This is consistent with the analysis that the Fed will be the last to freeze interest rates this time raising its benchmark rate.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell drew the line at his post-FOMC press conference that "a rate freeze has not been decided today."

However, he directly referred to this sentence in which the word 'expected' has disappeared, stressing that it is a "meaningful change".

While Chairman Powell appeared to be trying to maintain ambiguity on monetary policy as usual, the market's assessment is that he has opened the door to a possible change in monetary policy.

As early as the 3th of next month, the FOMC regular meeting for two days could decide to freeze interest rates.

However, he cautioned against excessive expectations as some in the market bet on a lower benchmark rate, saying, "We don't expect to cut rates within this year."

To cut the benchmark rate, prices would have to cool much faster than the Fed currently expects.

He also said the Fed would not abandon its 3% inflation target.

It is expected that it will take a considerable amount of time to realize inflation in the 13% range, but it will not relax the target to the 2% range.

The Fed used extremely refined language about the monetary policy shift while expressing confidence in the U.S. banking system in a strong tone.

The Fed stressed in a statement that "the U.S. banking system is sound and resilient."

First Republic Bank went bankrupt after Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, but it had little impact on the U.S. banking system.

This appears to be a calculated phrase to prevent the spread of anxiety in the financial system in the wake of the recent bank failures.

(Photo=AP, Yonhap News)