To the surprise of no one, Jerome Powell went back on his word.
Just as the markets expected, the Fed Chair announced a pause in interest rate hikes this afternoon. He may claim the ultimate goal is to bring inflation down to 2%, but today's decision proves pleasing the elites is priority number one.
"This is easily Powell's least credible commentary in a long time," Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough wrote to Hedgeye subscribers in a Real-Time Alert. "He's suggesting 'inflation has improved,' and all it did was #accelerate in the last 2 months of reports."
Below is the real story of what just happened:
Months ago, Powell said September's interest rate decision would be based on data. Then, after every economic indicator pointed to another rate hike, Powell threw the data out the window and decided to stand pat.
Like a good (public) servant, Powell bent the knee to the top .1%.
“Powell is full of shit,” McCullough said on a recent episode of The Macro Show. “He sees that data and now you’re not going to raise? Come on, man. There’s the state, there’s the elites, then there’s the rest of us. Elites said they don’t want hikes, and that’s why he’s not doing it.”
“The data from (Powell’s address three weeks ago at) Jackson Hole to now has literally all gotten more hawkish, especially inflation,” Daryl Jones added. “PPI doubled, jobless claims are at their lowest level in seven months and Retail is better than expected.”
An overwhelming majority of Americans are hurting due to inflation. Yet Powell's friends on Wall Street begged him to stop raising rates, and he fell in line.
Don't you just love central planning led by an unelected official?
Tune in to the rest of All Access Week as we unpack Powell's decision, and outline how to position your portfolio as we charge toward a fourth-quarter recession.
