US Federal Reserve

On the 7th anniversary of entering ZIRP, and for the first time since June 29th 2006, The Federal Reserve announced today that it will try and raise interest rates:

*FED RAISES INTEREST RATES 0.25 POINT IN UNANIMOUS VOTE

Of course, the flowery language and dots are as dovish as possible while maintaining some semblance of credibility with regard growth expectations as The Fed unleashes a tightening cycle for the first time in over 11 years.

Submitted by Martin Armstrong via ArmstrongEconomics.com,

The argument that the Fed should do nothing - for it will be harder to correct a rate rise than to do nothing - because there is no bubble anywhere, demonstrates that we have the most serious BUBBLE in history. Retail participation in markets is still off by 50% from 2007 highs. People have invested in fixed income and now there is a crisis is fixed income hedge funds.

At 2 p.m. EST, the only thing the financial world will care about and discuss will be the Fed's [first rate hike in 9 years|epic disappointment]. So for those who still haven't made up their mind about what the Fed's [dovish|non-dovish] rate hike means, here is all you need to know.

First, a list of all the key announcements and public statements that everyone will be parsing at a feverish pace, courtesy of Citi:

The schedule

On October 30, the BOJ was widely expected to do something and disappointed markets by doing nothing.

Then, on December 3, the ECB had pushed markets into a rabid, EURUSD-shorting frenzy only to dramatically disappoint by doing the barest of minimums compared to the historic pre-jawboning by Draghi and company.

Today, according to the market there is nearly a ~80% probability that the Fed will announce the first rate hike, precisely 7 years to the day after it cut rates to zero.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

I believe the world is at the greatest financial market inflection point since 1929. One that calls for a basic truism:

You can make a profit in a rising market if you are long. And you can profit in falling market if you are short.

The $64 million question is: How can you know the market’s direction?