The Fed’s Next Move is Down
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by on 07-08-2008
By. John Browne - August 6, 2008 http://www.europac.net
Yesterday, the Fed surprised no one and left its key rates unchanged and gave no indication that the committee was preparing to raise or lower rates anytime in the foreseeable future. As always, the market reactions were much more interesting and unpredictable. In this case, bond markets barely changed, the U.S. stock market jumped, and Euro futures strengthened slightly against the U.S. dollar.
Although few monetary hawks felt that there was any reasonable chance for an inflation-fighting rate hike this week, there was hope that lone FOMC dissenter Richard Fisher would be joined by other committee members in voting against the current round of liquidity injections. No such luck there. For now at least, Mr. Fisher is still a one man band. The rest of the Committee still shows no stomach to really take on inflation (despite this week’s alarming CPI report) and plenty [...]
