They shouldn't have cut on Sept 18th or Oct 31 either. They should have let the invisible hand of the market work things out. ...then again Merrill, Citi, Bear etc are terrified of a TRUE free market.
Uh, yeah. I bombed into a short position in the bonds and in went fucking no where. The markets just don't believe them. Bernanke said inflation was the number one concern and he cut rates anyway. Why should they believe these clowns now?
It doesn't matter what the Fed wants to do. If the market demands an interest rate cut, they'll cut. I've argued for years that we should let the market set rates. Looks like we are there.
what difference does it make? aren't the fat thumbs selling the Yen 3 month forwards and effectively borrowing at about 0.5% the situation in DC is looney toons Fannie and Freddie are set to go bust and citi and JP are sitting on mile high no bid paper.... It is amazing the cart has at least 3 wheels left on it....
Don't listen to the fed... their word means absolutely nothing. Look at August... they there saying no rate cut over and over again and 2 weeks later they started easing the rate. The fed will cut to stop a recession if the need arises... end of story.
Do you find anything contradictory in Poole saying one moment that it would take an "unexpectedly weak" fourth quarter to affect rates and the next moment saying the fourth quarter is irrelevant, since it is too late to do anything about it? I would think that if rate adjustments will be influenced by 4th quarter results, that the 4th quarter is far from irrelevant. Possibly the most reliable indicator of Fed policy in 2008 will be how far the Republican Presidential candidate is behind in the polls and how active the Israeli lobby is. I think the lobby would be quite happy with Hillary as the demo nominee, and in that case we would probably see a hands off stance from the Fed. On the other hand, the possibility of an Obama presidency would likely cause the Fed to swing into action. I'm not joking here. I am quite serious about this.
""Do you find anything contradictory in Poole saying one moment that it would take an "unexpectedly weak" fourth quarter to affect rates and the next moment saying the fourth quarter is irrelevant, since it is too late to do anything about it?"" _______________________________ It may be contradictory, I see it as testing the waters, who is listening, market reaction, good cop bad cop, comments at his own expense. Someone has to be the point man.
If you had a good system like stock trad3r and I you would see that rate cuts are still coming very soon with or without you. The money train to shangri-la is leaving now...don't be stuck on the tracks waiting for the pain train. My system had me go long...was obvious. Ride the dragon.