So they acknowledge the weakness, but they go on to say that employment slowed, and the committee continues to expect that appropriate action will continue to move forward. As is consistent with the dual mandate. Inflation is anticipated to remain near the level in the near term, but the committee expects inflation to rise gradually towards 2 as the labor market improves further and the transitory effects decline, and energy and import prices dissipate. They continue to monitor inflation closely. The language in here, again, can distance to what we saw in the march statement. They said the committee anticipates it would be appropriate to raise the target rate for the federal funds rate when they see further improvement in the labor market and they are reasonably confident the rate will move back towards the objective in the median term, so, mark no reference to june. They are taking that off the table, but there is that condition, being data dependent Going Forward, but they are acknowledging the recent week this in the u. S. Economy and the vote was unanimous, everyone in support of this policy statement. Mark . Mark peter cook, washington correspondent, thank you. Diane swonk, Meg Mcclellan, and bloombergs michael mckee, ms begin with wall street reaction with julie hyman with what we just heard from the fed. Julie it depends on what youre looking at. Behind me is a chart of the s p intraday 500, and we are seeing a little bit of a takedown tick down. There are not too many surprises in here. It is acknowledgment that, indeed, the economy slowed in the First Quarter. That is in there and right at the top of the statement. We already received declines going into the report, but stocks bounced up off of the lows. Where we are seeing more action is in two places i want to zoom in on, and one of them is in gold, with the fed continuing to say inflation remains in check and they are Monitoring Energy prices and some other factors, but nonetheless, all of that saying inflation is in check, and we are actually seeing gold prices take lower tick lower. I do not know if we have an intraday chart of gold, as well that shows the drop we are seeing, but down about 6 10 of 1 , not a huge decline but a huge dropoff as to where it was before the statement came out. The other asset i want to highlight is the euro, which saw a big drop right after the statement and since that has come back to some extent, so the euro now little changed after we saw that initial drop, so again, if there is a drop in the euro, some strength in the dollar, so that is what i am seeing so far. Also just imagine what we are seeing happen as far as the 10year note, if we can take a look at that, as well, the 10year note not seeing a huge change in the price of the 10year, given these levels. They are pretty much in line with what we see there in the intraday chart, the 10year yield coming down a little bit but not a huge reaction. Mark . Mark senior markets correspondent, julie hyman thank you. Diane swonk, julie pretty much said this was in line, but they said there are transitory factors. Do you think that is accurate . Diane i think that is accurate. The question is how much of that weakness is transitory, and i think with the overhang in inventories that we saw, we do have a hangover for the second order, and we are not going to get quite the snapback that we saw last year. Of course, we are starting from a stronger base, and it is even worse than it was a year ago. At this meeting, they are letting us know they do not anticipate raising rates anytime soon but they would like to see more labor market improvement and would still like to get some lift off this year, and i think that is the message, steady as she goes, not in june, but soon enough. Mike what in this statement makes you think that it is not going to be june, if anything . Diane they did not talk about inflation firming. I think they have been surprised that inflation has not come down more. It is still below what they consider to be the right target. Until they can say they know for sure that this weakness is transitory and that inflation really is going to hit our mediumterm target along with more labor market improvement, and i think it is going to be tough to get the data we need by june given the way they have framed this statement, along with, yes, some of this weakness is partially transitory, though maybe not as transitory as they anticipated, and i think that comes out, as well so datadriven. I think it is difficult for them to put june on the table with this data. Mark meg diane which is saying we have not seen any improvement in headline inflation but core inflation, how are policymakers going to react, Going Forward . Meg this is something we are watching, and the inflation rate, looking ahead, indicators were too low underpricing inflation risk, and as we saw recently, the Inflation Numbers coming in more strong, he started to see those expectations in the market picked up, and we have also seen a big inflow into the tips market, so people looking to protect but the market is reacting to that data the same way. Mark michael mckee, what are fed policymakers looking at right now . We have got Growth Numbers today that were 2 10 of a percent. What are they going to look at now . Mike as diane noted, it will be revised, and they are saying transitory, so what does the data tell you is going to change was to mark well as diane said, we want to watch inventories and the strength of the dollar to see if this continues to impact American Manufacturing and whether Oil Continues in fact, it did not get a mention in here, but they did talk about investment. Oil has gone back up. The dollar has gone back down so there is some evidence in here that the Second Quarter is going to be better. We just dont know how much yet. One of the things they will be watching for is the next federal employment numbers. They do not see any change in the utilizations of labor market resources, which is a long way of saying the jobs report was not that good in the month of march, and that is one of their criteria, continued improvement in the labor market. Market ok, roundtable, standby. Michael mckee, diane swonk, and Meg Mcclellan, we have a Market Strategist joining us from atlanta. Stay with us. Bottom line coverage of the fed continues in a moment. Mark welcome back. A finding of not guilty in a rape trial, jason lee charged with assaulting a student in the bathroom of his easthampton rental during a party in august 2013. He waived his right to a jury. Welcome back to this special edition of bottom line. I am mark crumpton. A few moments ago, the Federal Reserve said the market weekend, and officials will keep Interest Rates near zero at their next meeting in june or longer. Lets get back to our fed meeting roundtable. Joining us is diane swonk Meg Mcclellan and Bloomberg News economics editor michael mckee, and standing by is our senior markets correspondent, julie hyman. Thank you for joining us. Meg, you were talking about the market reaction. You are not seeing much. Meg this was on the back of yields going up in europe and they were shorting europe, so that is what was driving the u. S. Treasury market. This seems to be a nonevent from what we are seeing right now. Mike it basically comes down that we needed to have a meeting so we tried to do as little harm as possible. There it is. Mark diane swonk in chicago the gdp grew at an annualized rate at just 2 10 of 1 in the First Quarter. Is this rather related, or Something Else going on . Diane the weakness cannot be related to that. We have yet to see that big boost in growth associated with low oil prices stronger Consumer Spending. Consumer spending actually held up fairly well in the First Quarter, but fairly well is not what it was doing, nor what we would expect, given the decline in oil prices, even at their current level, and i think that is one of the things that that is going to be watching very closely. How are the Housing Market and Consumer Spending doing Going Forward as we get into the Second Quarter, and is the weakness more broadbased in its affect on unemployment. Was it just a First Quarter phenomenon or not. We could have had a 1 First Quarter, and we could have said it is transitory partly transitory. Some of it is more systemic. Weakness abroad, a strong dollar. We are not seeing all of the benefits. Marco michael mckee, how is the decline in Energy Exploration affecting these numbers, as well . Mike we have not seen the huge layoffs, but we did see the number of layoffs, and the question is with Oil Prices Moving back up again, how fast does it turn on . It is really hard to get a read on the overall impact on this on the economy. We may not know for a couple of years how this all plays out. Mark meg, the decline the most in two years. Our households now going to be the engine that drives this momentum Going Forward . Meg that is what the fed hopes and when we look forward towards it, we expect those numbers to come out stronger, so we have seen a continuous pickup in terms of growth, and that is ultimately what is going to give those consumers a little extra gas money in their pocket, and hopefully that will pass through to some higher inflation, maybe 2016, based on what the fed is saying. Mark diane, i think you want to jump in here, as well. Diane saying that consumers were hibernating with the bad weather and being illequipped to deal with it. We were seeing a contraction, and this is because people were using their savings at the pump and paying back their holiday bills. It happened in march and february. We know anecdotal comments from credit card providers showed they actually picked up their credit card usage in the month of march and that does set us up very well for the Second Quarter, so we do think that is going to come back. Is it going to be the consumer . A do have a consumer back. They are not the outlet they once were. Mark meg are we going to see this pickup . Meg diane will certainly be able to comment on this, but the q1 gdp report is not complete. We do not have all of the data we need. There will be revisions to this, but also activity that did not happen because of Colder Weather to translate into a stronger Second Quarter, so we have seen people come out this morning and after the q1 gdp report, saying maybe it is stronger as things push forward. Mark push forward, how long . Meg yet got consumers out spending, and all of a sudden we have got inventory buildup, and hopefully we will get clarity on the trade data once that is finalized, but the q1 gdp report could look significant lead different once we get the revisions out. Mark all right, stay with us, and we will have more on the fed and the overall economy, and coming up at two ernie, we will get coming up at 2 30, we wont get information from pimcos Tony Crescenzi. Our special coverage of the fed continues in a moment. Mark welcome back. This is bottom line on television and streaming online and on your phone. I am mark crumpton. Lets get back to our fed roundtable. Meg mcclellan diane swonk and michael mckee, and standing by our correspondent, julie hyman. Julie as you guys have been talking about, since there were not huge surprises in this statement today, we are not seeing much of a difference from where stocks were before the statement came out. You do sometimes the a long time elapsed before reaction, and then it plays out throughout the afternoon, but it really does seem to be study in this particular case. Once again, i am watching what is going on in the stock markets and not seeing a lot of action. The other asset i was watching earlier, gold prices, they did fall off, and they continue to be lower by nearly 1 , so that is more of a consistent reaction, and then as i highlighted earlier, the other asset i am watching is the euro which had stabilized earlier but is now lower by about half of 1 , and gold and euro dollar on the more dramatic reactions, but all things considered, we are not seeing any huge movements as we look across the spectrum. Mark Bloomberg Markets corresponded, julie hyman. Thank you. An audience in london was told that the worlds Central Banks could be setting their world inflation targets too low. Is there some evidence for that . Meg i think the last time we heard this was jackson hole with an bernanke in 2010. One of the things about the fed target being thought too low is he tends to be a big proponent of quantitative easing, and he thinks they should be doing more, and if you have a higher inflation target, it would certainly open the door to a more aggressive fed policy, i. E. Not hiking rates and for the doves in the room, that was certainly a welcome statement. Mark diane, is there a sense that they could be setting the inflation target too low . Diane Charlie Evans here in chicago has also voiced some of those concerns, that there could be a period of catchup inflation in the u. S. Economy, allowing you to get a bit of heat behind it. They talked about it being symmetric after running too cool for a while, so it could run a little hot for a while. That said, there is not widespread acceptance of this because it is some fear they would undermine their credibility on inflation fighting, and they have worked to deal hard on that inflation fighting target that they do after target runaway inflation, that they would not want to give a hint that they would allow the economy to catch up with inflation, even though that has been part of it. Mike ben bernanke has been telling people privately there is no magic about 2 . That was sort of recognized economic wisdom, but it could be raised. It would not hurt us to raise it a little bit, but the real point is if they cannot get to 2 what difference does it make if they set the target at 3 or 3. 5 . They have to get to 2 first and right now, policy is not stable enough to do that. Mark formally the most powerful head in the world, hired by a hedge fund, so the dell. Does anyone have concerns about this . Diane they forget that when they do not work at the fed, they make a different amount of money. The further you get away from it, you can make money other ways, and this is the capitalist system at work. Mike he only made 155,000 as chairman of the Federal Reserve. And look what he went through. 150 5,000 as chairman of the Federal Reserve, 165,000 as chairman of the federal, and look at what he went through. Diane it will be easier than anything he had to battle when he was at the Federal Reserve. Mark meg, when is the fed going to move . Meg we expect september, and we are still positive and actually prefer the u. S. Treasuries versus europe. Mark all right, diane, last word. 10 seconds. When is the fed going to move . Diane looking for september. Mark all right, diane, meg michael, thank you. Up next, more reaction to the pimcos Tony Crescenzi. Stay with us. Our special coverage of the fed continues in a moment. Mark welcome back to the second halfhour of bottom line on Bloomberg Television. I am mark crumpton. As we always do at this time, crude oil closing, up about 2. 5 , trading at 58. 49. Lets get to some of the other top stories we are following at this hour. Japanese Prime Ministers shinzo abe offered condolences for the americans who died in world war ii in a historic address in capitol hill. He is the first japanese Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of congress. His speech comes as both countries mark the 70th anniversary of the end of war two. A show of force overnight in baltimore, National Guard troops and Police Officers kept the streets calm for the most part a day after widespread looting and violence. Police did use tear gas to break up a crowd of about 200. Those people had ignored the 10 00 curfew. Meantime, president obama says he may visit baltimore soon and as a safety measure, the Baltimore Orioles are playing the Chicago White sox in an empty stadium. Major League Baseball says they believe this is the first game played without any fans, and that is a look at the top stories we are following this hour. Another top story today, the fed meeting on policy. Joining me is Tony Crescenzi, a Portfolio Manager at pimco. Tony, welcome back to bottom line. Tony thank you for having me. Mark is that this is potentially the most important part of todays statement. What risk did you see . tony clearly, the fed, in the first paragraph, which gives the conditions of the economy it was simply an update on what it sees with Capital Spending and employment and other areas of the economy, but what matters is not the First Quarter or the fed outlook for the second and Going Forward, and the fed said the risk to the outlook on gdp Economic Growth and employment remained nearly balanced. In other words, the fed remains confident that its objective will ulti