US Federal Reserve

This morning the WSJ leads with an article that summarizes the prevailing market confusion at the moment, namely that global currencies are soaring, "defying central bankers" despite a flurry of easing around the globe in the past month, all of which have been undone by one Fed dot plot which cut the number of rate hikes forecast by Yellen & Co., from 4 to 2. To wit: "efforts by many of the world’s central banks to weaken their currencies are failing, raising concerns about whether policy makers are losing the ability to wield control over financial markets."

From Guy Haselmann of Scotiabank

BURP

Yesterday’s FOMC meeting and press conference generated widespread unease. My personal uncomfortable feeling was reminiscent of a time many decades ago when a date stood me up and provided an excuse that made little sense. Simply put, the combination of the FOMC’s forecasts, economic assessment, and guidance on the future path of interest rates were incongruous and disconnected to their ‘data dependency’ message. 

Submitted by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

“Data Dependent Fed” Ignores Data

I wrote on Tuesday of this week:

Another day, another criminal Fed employee admits to being just that.

Recall that just yesterday we wrote about former NY Fed employee Jason Gross who somehow managed to avoid a prison sentence, but was slapped on the wrist with a $2,000 fine after he admitted to stealing confidential NY Fed data and handing it over to his former supervisor in his new role working for Goldman Sachs.

Submitted by Pater Tenebrarum via Acting-Man.com,

A Useful Leading Indicator?

We often see charts comparing the S&P 500 to the growth in the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet, or more specifically, to assets held by the Fed. There is undeniably a close correlation between the two, but it has struck us as not very useful as a “timing device”, or an early warning device if you will.