Investors are awaiting this week's FOMC Meeting, yet the overwhelming consensus is that the Fed won't raise interest rates.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting kicks off Tuesday. The Fed meeting will conclude with a statement at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. There will not be a press conference after the meeting.
Here's why the Fed will stand pat on interest rates at the October meeting...
U.S. markets opened sharply lower Thursday as many investors await the Janet Yellen speech tonight at 5:00 p.m. ET at the University of Massachusetts.
During the Janet Yellen speech, investors will be looking for any clues that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will raise interest rates this year for the first time in nearly a decade.
Here's what investors can expect tonight...
Fed interest rates are about to increase for the first time in nine years. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen had hinted for months that the central bank finally was ready to raise interest rates above zero for the first time since late 2008.
Markets will react as new rates are decided, Money Morning Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani explained on Aug. 7. "Investors could panic. Because we're so close to all-time highs, any dip could turn into a sell-off as investors rush to book their paper profits."
Watch the following video for Gilani's prediction on the timing of a rate hike, plus get his profit-taking strategy than any investor can use to cash in when Fed interest rates climb...
The U.S. Federal Reserve is set to hold a policy meeting this week to decide whether or not to raise interest rates.
All of the buzz has investors wondering: How do rising interest rates affect the stock market?
Here's how the four most popular types of assets perform when interest rates rise...
An interest rate increase is the biggest topic for Fed officials during this week's two-day FOMC meeting on Wednesday and Thursday.
While many economists believe the Federal Reserve should hold off on raising interest rates this month, Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald says investors shouldn't assume the Fed will make the smartest decision.
The September FOMC meeting takes place this week when U.S. Federal Reserve officials gather for a two-day assembly on Wednesday and Thursday (Sept. 16-17).
This is the Federal Reserve’s sixth scheduled meeting of 2015, with meetings in October and December to follow. A press conference by Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen will follow the FOMC meeting.
Here's what investors are watching for during this week's FOMC meeting...
The central bank circus was on full display this week as the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee held a two-day meeting only to emerge with another mind-numbing series of excuses for keeping interest rates at zero when the economy is not in crisis.
One such claim was that inflation (as measured by economists) is insufficiently high, despite the fact that the price of real-world goods and services (including gasoline again) are steadily rising. The Fed stated that it's afraid raising interest rates - for the first time in nine years by all of 25 basis points - could send the economy into a tailspin. That isn't only bad policy, it is pathetic.
Perhaps it is time we learned this one vital lesson...
The Fed meeting today (Wednesday) delivered on another humdrum statement soaked in predictable Fed speak.
The decision? The U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee is considering rate hikes on a meeting-by-meeting basis. Something we already knew.
But it's what the Fed is NOT talking about that really frightens us...
The Fed meeting today (Tuesday) will adjourn tomorrow with a predictably vague statement about how the U.S. Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee is considering rate hikes on a meeting-by-meeting basis.
But what won't be discussed at the Fed meeting today or tomorrow is that it's that very FOMC that has been setting the stage for the next global financial crisis.
The minutes from last month's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting provided zero clarity on the U.S. Federal Reserve's plans to raise interest rates in 2015. The markets need to know when the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates, or at least what economic conditions it will use to make the decision.
But all we get from the Federal Reserve is waffling. And the economic targets that would trigger action get increasingly vague. Meanwhile, the Fed members make things worse by publicly voicing their uncertainty.
Just look at some of these quotes...
The Federal Open Market Committee Meeting (FOMC) meeting minutes told us much of the same.
QE3 is over, rate hikes will happen after a "considerable" time, and markets are still sensitive to humdrum Fedspeak.
Here's what you should be doing with your money on Fed days like these...
This morning, U.S. stock futures are falling.
This is the day after the failed Senate vote on the Keystone Pipeline project, but ahead of the Fed's release of the Fed Open Market Committee Meeting minutes.
The release of which always has a potential to move markets.
Here are other big stories brewing in the financial markets today...
The FOMC meeting today will mean one thing: accommodative monetary policy is ending.
This may spook some investors who have rode this Fed-driven bull market to big gains.
Here's how you can keep scoring gains even with less easy money flooding the markets.
The Fed balance sheet has been expanding at an alarming rate since the financial collapse in 2007.
And there's no surprise the markets have gone along for the ride.
But this week's FOMC meeting will mark an end to that, and no longer will markets be able to fall back on easy money policy.
Here's where the Fed is now, how it got here, and how you can invest around it.
I have long said that the Fed has never met a printing press it didn't like nor a dove that it didn't want to set free in the name of higher stock prices. And, yesterday, yet again, Yellen proved it.
Within minutes of releasing its latest set of notes hinting that the Fed will keep rates near zero, the S&P 500 took off on a 34-point gain that is the biggest so far this year. Moving first 45 points from its low of 1,925 to its peak of 1,970 in less than five hours (it later settled slightly lower), the index shrugged off the prior day's losses amidst global growth concerns and weaker European economic data.
This is manipulation of the highest order. It's also proof positive we NEED a correction. Now, more than ever.
