Today is the day the Fed decides whether it will raise interest rates or not. Nobody at all is talking about this but, heck, they might even go negative. From a nominal 0.10%, if the rate is dropped 0.25%, that would turn (near) ZIRP into (full-on) NIRP.
Maybe there will be a bomb scare and the meeting will be called off. That way ISIS can be blamed, guns can be confiscated, Christmas spending won’t be affected, the Fed won’t be scrutinized, and the hike can happen in January when it won’t matter so much, if at all. Everybody will be broke by then anyway.
We will have to wait and see. In the meantime, watch for falling… uh… objects.
*Update*
No bomb scare, no NIRP (yet,) no good sense from the Fed. Today’s hike caused already over-priced markets everywhere (even Brazil) to climb even higher. Is this a good thing, or did the Fed screw up once again?
If hikes are no good, and Nirp is no good (punishes responsible savers,) what options are left? When all markets are manipulated (to paraphrase Carney,) how does this bode for the entrepreneurs who are supposed to lift us out of recession? How are they supposed to make projections? How can they justify risking investments and hiring their workforce?
Defenestration did not appear to be a significant problem.
“In the end, the Fed did not surprise, and raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade in a widely telegraphed move while signaling that the pace of subsequent increases will be “gradual” and in line with previous projections. The Federal Open Market Committee unanimously voted to set the new target range for the federal funds rate at 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent, up from zero to 0.25 percent. Policy makers separately forecast an appropriate rate of 1.375 percent at the end of 2016, the same as September, implying four quarter-point increases in the target range next year, based on the median number from 17 officials.”
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