Recent economic weakness is largely due to weather and presents no reason for the Federal Reserve to retreat from its steady reduction in the pace of monthly asset purchases, said Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, on Friday. We will know that soon in March when the figures for February will come out or the recent storms will be another excuse for poor set of numbers then too?"Obviously weather is playing a significant role here," Fisher said in an interview. "The economy has been moving in the right direction and I am not dissuaded that continuing to taper should be altered," Fisher said. He said that fiscal policy, not interest-rate policy was holding back the economy. Fisher said he favors changing the central bank's forward guidance. At the moment, the Fed has said it will hold short-term interest rates at zero "well past" the time when the jobless rate falls below 6.5%. Fisher refused to say how he would alter the guidance, saying only that Fed officials should discuss the issue. Fisher is a voting member of the Fed's policy-making panel