Providing information about the expected path of policy helped to ensure that long-term interest rates and other asset prices did not build in a projected pace of tightening that was more rapid than the Committee itself anticipated, and the statement's focus on the conditionality of future policy actions emphasized the ongoing need for both policymakers and financial market participants to respond to economic news.
In retrospect, the clear communication of policy provided notable benefits, in my view, by increasing the effectiveness of monetary policy while minimizing unnecessary volatility in financial markets. Third, policy moved gradually, tightening in one-quarter point increments over fourteen successive meetings. Together with expanded communication, this gradual approach served to stabilize policy expectations and damp market volatility.