The Fed Blesses the Market’s Melt-Up – And Greases the Skids for the Dollar

A catalyst for working off the market’s over-extended and over-bought conditions remains elusive. The Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy statement essentially blessed the market’s stubborn “melt-up.” The statement did not provide the incremental “hawkishness” as I was expecting given last month’s surprise discount rate hike. In fact, this statement’s reference to low rates for an … Read more

Federal Reserve Forces An Attitude Adjustment with Surprise Discount Rate Hike

(A version of this post also appears on Inflation Watch) The Federal Reserve essentially warned us in its most recent written testimony to the House of Representatives that part of its exit strategy from emergency monetary measures is to increase the spread between the funds rate and the discount rate. This evening, the Fed did … Read more

Hoenig Wants the Federal Reserve to Adopt A Flexible Policy Stance

On Friday, Nightly Business Report’s Susie Gharib interviewed Thomas Hoenig, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Gharib focused on Hoenig’s objection to the latest Federal Reserve statement on monetary policy. Hoenig basically explained that he wants the Fed to adopt a flexible policy stance now that the economy appears to be recovering: … Read more

Federal Reserve Will Wait At Least Six More Months Before Raising Rates

For those people counting down to the first rate hike from the Federal Reserve, New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley offered an interpretation of “extended period” for Susie Gharib of Nightly Business Report: “GHARIB: Bill, everybody wants to know what do you mean by extended period? Would you please define that for us? DUDLEY: … Read more

Disappointing December Jobs Report May Signal An End to the Dollar’s Relief Rally

The dollar’s recent relief rally stalled out December 23 (see chart below), and December’s disappointing jobs report may have officially ended it. The apparent working thesis supporting the dollar’s relief rally has been an expectation that an imminent recovery in the labor market would motivate the Fed to raise interest rates sometime soon. December’s disappointing … Read more