Fed Meetings = Horoscopes for Finance Bros

TL;DR

• Hours of work go into reading Fed chair Jerome Powell’s words, reading his moods, and distilling it all into a ‘general vibe’ that influences trillions of dollars of global investments.

• The market loved Jerome’s plans for the future – because markets love certainty – and over the past year, we’ve been starved of it.

• The economy isn’t out of the woods yet, but this is a good sign.

Full Story

Federal Reserve meeting transcripts are like Horoscopes for finance bros.

(Tell us we’re wrong – we dare you!)

Hours of work go into reading Fed chair Jerome Powell’s words, reading his moods, and distilling it all into a ‘general vibe’ that influences trillions of dollars of global investments.

It’s weird.

And while we touched on the Fed’s latest meeting yesterday, there’s more to cover!

Because this time was different. This time, there was no crystal ball needed to divine J-Powell’s plans for the future (and that’s a rarity).

On top of announcing that he won’t be increasing rates this month, JP also said:

• The Fed doesn’t need to see a recession in order to cut interest rates.

  (Which is awesome, cause many had assumed his plan was to defeat inflation, by forcing a recession).

• Further rate hikes are ‘not likely’.

  Everyone had kind of assumed that, but JP had never outright said it – in fact he’d actually threatened more hikes.

• Rate cuts will be a topic of discussion going forward.

  The Fed is apparently planning to cut rates by .75% in 2024!

The market loooooved all of that – because markets love certainty – and over the past year, we’ve been starved of it.

The economy isn’t out of the woods yet, but this is a good sign.