The Federal Reserve’s announcement of its decision to leave monetary policy unchanged said nothing about stock market and commodity market volatility. And that speaks volumes.
The closest the Fed came to talking about markets was measures of inflation expectations that are embedded in the prices of inflation-indexed bonds; and cheap oil’s impact on the measured inflation rates; and the rising foreign exchange rate’s impact on imports, exports and the prices of imported goods.
Back in the day, we talked about the “Greenspan put,” in which the Fed would react to stock market downturns with a cut in interest rates. The Fed seems to be telegraphing that they will not react to financial or commodity market turmoil absent a demonstrated impact on Main Street businesses. Keep in mind, however, that what the Fed says and doesn’t say doesn’t always align with what they later do.
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