From our standpoint, the change in language represents a small step toward an eventual rate hike.

The economy has shown tremendous resilience in the face of energy prices so far. But this latest spike will have a noticeable effect in the next couple of months.

While the dissent came as a surprise, we certainly wouldn't read it as evidence of any sort of a significant split on the FOMC.

Even though the pace of starts may continue to edge lower on an underlying basis, we look for about a 6% gain in January.

Since we believe that the underlying state of the labor market is quite healthy, we would expect any negative weather- related impact on the February data to be recouped in March.

Overall retail sales growth in December should be robust.