To further clarify that the “extended period” language is conditional on the evolution of the economy, the FOMC emphasized in the November 2009 statement that its expectation that the federal funds rate is likely to remain at an “exceptionally low” level for an “extended period” depended on the outlook for resource utilization, inflation, and inflation expectations following the anticipated trajectories.
This reflects to some extent our monetary policy measures. By removing securities from the market, the ensuing scarcity exerts downward pressure on repo rates. For instance, specialness premia tend to be higher in those market segments where the Eurosystem has purchased more bonds relative to outstanding amounts.