investors, fed watches, global policymakers, we are going to hear from john ryding and john taylor in moment with lift off set for march. romaine: at 2:00, we got a balanced statement out of the fed. at two: no night, our senior editor here said it is up to jay powell now not to mess this up. here's what he had to say. >> the federal open market committee kept its policy interest rate near zero and stated its expectation that an increase in this rate would soon be appropriate. the economy has shown great strength and resilience in the face of the pandemic. we expect inflation to decline over the course of the year. in light of remarkable progress in the labor market, inflation well above our 2% goal, the economy no longer needs sustained, high levels of monetary support. we need to be nimble so that we can respond to the full range of plausible outcomes. the committee is of a mind to raise the federal funds rate at the march meeting, assuming conditions are appropriate for doing so. taylor: let's parse through today's fed news and bring in cross asset reporter katie gry failed. he sai

this a conversation we had with john ryding brean capital -- john ryding at brean capital.han: google had that conversation next with torsten slok -- it is a conversation we will have next with torsten slok. lisa says he will need to look at the employment cost index. we will do that with mike mckee, just around the corner. on tv and radio, this is bloomberg. ♪ jonathan: chairman powell has brought some added importance to one data point. we are seconds away from the release of the employment cost index and a host of other data points. futures down .3% on the nasdaq. yields a little bit higher, up on tens to 1.84. michael: here we come with the employment cost index for the fourth quarter. eci rises 1%. compensation up 4% for the 12 month period overall. wages and salaries up 4.5%. it was 4.2% in the third quarter and that is what jay powell said was the two by four that hit the vet over the head with regards they might need to get going with tightening. for private industry they are up 5%. we are seeing accelerated wage pressures in the economy. the other data out, persona