Fed Rate Hike Is Too Close To Call

Fed Rate Hike Is Too Close To Call by Amey Stone, Barron’s

H/T MacroDigest

In an ideal world, there would be a pretty clear consensus ahead of a Federal Open Market Committee meeting about what policymakers were likely to decide. If a rate hike was imminent, Fed officials would have signaled it, the bond market would have priced it in, and markets would remain calm when it was announced.

None of those things are likely to happen this time around. The FOMC meets Wednesday and Thursday and there is no clear consensus on Wall Street about whether it will raise rates. Fed officials have been mixed in their comments, and market strategists have been all over the map about...