Yellen inherits fractious Fed, minutes show

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/yellen-inherits-fractious-fed-minutes-show-2014-02-19

This article discusses how at the January meeting, the Fed voted to reduce the asset purchase program as well keep rates low, at least until the unemployment rate drops below 6.5%.  It goes on to talk about how there was some controversy with the final decision.  Some Fed employees expressed the concern that monetary policy shows that interest rates do in face need to rise, while others felt that keeping them low was the way to go.  Some employees also argue for a slower tapering whereas others argued “Clear presumption in favor of continuing to reduce the pace of purchases by a total of $10 billion at each policy-making meeting, especially if there is no evidence of a change in the outlook."  Later in the article, it discusses how the vote for lowering interest rates was all over the place, and it was hard to come to a clear consensus as the December job report was weak.  They go on to say how March's report will be very interesting depending on what has happened in both January and February.