“There’s a lot of nuance in the decision. I think what’s pretty clear from the statement is Powell is not poised to turn sharply dovish,” said Brian Dangerfield, macro strategist at NatWest Markets. “The Fed is going to be data dependent, but the data on which they are depending has not slowed dramatically.”
Tight Won’t Make Markets Right
The Fed Chair also made mention of reducing its balance sheet, which traders view as a tightening policy that would signal more rate hikes–something the markets don’t want to hear at this point.
“It just reinforces that between the Fed hiking and shrinking its balance sheet, it’s double tightening in 2019. I think it just reinforced the market did not get the dovish hike it was looking for,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment strategist at Bleakley Advisory Group.
After being up over 200 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average proceeded to fall by over 500 points following Powell’s post-rate hike press conference.
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