The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee changes every year and for 2013 in particular, the new makeup of the FOMC will be extremely important because this group will decide whether asset purchases should end in 2013. Gone are Lacker (the most hawkish member of the FOMC), Pianalto (a dove), Williams and Lockhart. Three doves and one hawk will be replaced with two uber doves (Evans and Rosengren), one moderate hawk (George) and one unknown (Bullard). What this implies is that the new voting members of the FOMC may not be as eager to phase out asset purchases this year as the prior committee.

Here is the updated FOMC Voters Dove Hawk Scale for 2013

These new members will have their first opportunity to vote on monetary policy at the January 25th FOMC meeting and here’s where they stand:

Openly Dovish
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren
NY Fed President William Dudley
Vice Chair Janet Yellen

Moderately Dovish

Fed Board Member Jeremy Stein
Fed Board Member Sarah Raskin
Fed Board Member Daniel Tarullo

Slight Lean towards Dovishness

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
Fed Board Member Elizabeth Duke
Fed Board Member Jerome Powell

Slightly Hawkish
Kansas City Fed President Esther George
St. Louis Fed President Bullard