At the Federal Reserve's policy meeting last week, Ben Bernanke pulled off a minor coup, with the chairman crafting a statement that bridged the gap between the US central bank's noisy hawks and vociferous doves - for now.
The Fed signalled that it still expects to keep interest rates near zero for an "extended period" - but for the first time set out the assumptions on which that forecast is based: "low rates of resource utilisation, subdued inflation trends and stable inflation expectations".
