On Tuesday, we brought you Bloomberg’s top 10 “worst case scenarios” for 2016. The list, compiled by polling "dozens of former and current diplomats, geopolitical strategists, security consultants, and economists" included everything from devastating cyber attacks by Iranian and Russian hackers to a military coup in China.
They even threw in a Trump victory in the national elections for good measure.
The day has come when the boxed-in Fed has no choice: with the vast majority of the market expecting a rate hike, Yellen has to deliver or suffer a crushing confidence blow like no other. And deliver she will, with expectations that said hike will be "as dovish as possible", which however as we explained yesterday, is not really possible. For now however, the market is desperate to convince itself that just as more easing and more QE were bullish for the market, so rate hikes are just as bullish.
The start of the Fed's most eagerly awaited two-day policy meeting in years has finally arrived with the market expecting Yellen to announce the first 25 bps rate hike in 9 years tomorrow with nearly 80% probability, and so far US equity futures are enjoying a last minute relief rally, while emerging market stocks rose for the first day in ten after the longest losing run since June. Europe's Stoxx 600 Index has also rebounded from a five-day losing streak, the worst in over four months.
Submitted by Richard Ebeling via EpicTimes.com,
We are living in a time that can only be considered monetary chaos. The U.S. Federal Reserve has manipulated key interest rates down to practically zero for the last six years, and expanded the money supply in the banking system by $4 trillion dollars over that time. And with the true mentality of the monetary central planner, the Fed Board of Governors are now planning to manipulate key interest rates in an upward direction that they deem desirable.
With the Fed's "imminent rate hike" announcement just three days away, the tremors not only continue but are getting bigger and more threatening with every passing day.