The Missing Sentence: An Explanation

The big news from today's FOMC meeting was, of course, the omitted sentence in the initial press  statement.  From Bloomberg:

The Fed jarred financial markets shortly before 4 p.m. when it announced it had mistakenly left a sentence about inflation expectations being "well-contained'' out of the statement earlier in the afternoon. "Longer-term inflation expectations remain well- contained,'' the new sentence said.

That had more than a few people scratching their heads, but Robert Brusca, chief economist for FAO Economics has the explanation (via MarketWatch):

"This omission is very Freudian," said Brusca, who argued that the Fed was right the first time by saying inflationary pressures are mounting, but is in so much denial that it didn't notice it had left out a key sentence.

Wow.  And all I usually see are the dirty pictures.

There was, of course, blogging aplenty:

Angry Bear fills you in how the updated statement changed from the last meeting, as does the Big Picture, as does the New Economist. 

Calculated Risk notes that the Treasury yield curve is narrowing, reinforcing the statement's "spending growth has slowed somewhat clause."  On a related note, The Capital Spectator points out that yesterday's Institute or Supply Management Report was not good at all, and today's report on manufacturers shipments, inventories and orders for March was driven by energy-related non-durables.

The Global Trader's Diary says the statement snafu indicates there must be a better way to communicate; The Big Picture is downright aggravated.

If that's not enough for you, there is also commentary at The Prudent Investor and at William Polley.