AP ImagesJanet YellenJanet Yellen is holding her final press conference of the year following the Fed's last policy announcement this afternoon.
Yellen emphasized right at the top that the language does not represent a change in the Fed's intentions.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve made its last monetary policy announcement of the year, removing the phrase "considerable time" and replacing this with "patient."
Regarding the labor market, Yellen said that overall the labor market has improved, and noted that underutilization of labor resources continuing to diminish.
On the broader economy, Yellen said that real GDP expanded 2.5% over the four quarters ending in the third quarter, with indications showing the economy continues to grow at that pace.
Yellen noted that the decline in oil prices "will likely hold down overall inflation in the near term." Yellen added that "as oil price declines and other transitory factors dissipate" the Fed expects inflation to move back towards its 2% target.
The Fed has noted the decline in the "market based" measures of inflation - i.e. breakevens - and said these too look transitory, though these do bear close watching.
Yellen said that the Committee expects it will be appropriate to maintain its current policy stance "for at least the next couple of meetings."
Yellen said that most FOMC members, however, believe that it will be appropriate to begin raising rates at some time in 2015, but that the time of year depends on the economic situation.
At the time of lift off, FOMC members expect to see a further decline in the unemployment rate, with "core" inflation running near current levels, but remain confident that inflation will run back to target levels.
Yellen is still stressing that the path of interest rate hikes will continue to depend on incoming data.
Here's the key passage:
"Based on its current assessment, the Committee judges that it can be patient in beginning to normalize the stance of monetary policy."
Yellen said that most FOMC members expect interest rates to get closer to its "normal longer-run level" by the end of 2017, particularly as impacts from the Financial Crisis continue to dissipate.
Yellen said "no meeting is completely off the table" for raising interest rates. Of course, Yellen added that this depends on incoming data, but if data are stronger than expected than normalization could happen sooner than expected, and the opposite would also remain true.