A bit of a conflicting message from the Fed last week. Markets didn’t it take it super well.
On one hand, the Fed said that the economy still needs months of space to find its footing and it signaled no rush to taper its asset purchases. On the other hand, the Fed signaled rate hikes could come sooner than expected, although not until 2023. The Dow then had its worst week since October. Julia Coronado, founder and president of MacroPolicy Perspectives, said the mixed message on patience hit things like bond yields, inflation compensation and commodities prices. “But there’s an open debate about whether they are in fact less patient, or they were just trying to kind of have their cake and eat it too — give us patience in the near term, but let us know that they’ll do what’s needed if inflation does in fact show up on a more persistent basis,” Coronado said.