For example, some observers have argued that, by focusing attention on certain macroeconomic variables as possible triggers for policy action, recent statements have increased the responsiveness of yields and asset prices to news about those particular variables.
A possible case in point is the monthly payroll employment number, whose importance to markets appears to have been elevated by references to employment and resource utilization in recent FOMC statements.9 If FOMC communication has served to highlight the monthly payroll statistics and their possible link to policy decisions, then financial markets should have become more sensitive to unexpected developments in payrolls.