Daily Commentary by Larry Baer: Waiting.
Investors are milling around with their hands
in their pockets waiting for the release of the Federal Open Market Committee's
post-meeting statement expected at 2:15 p.m. ET this afternoon.
Most observers believe the central bank will
push back its guidance for an eventual rate hike into 2015 from the current
late 2014 but will otherwise stop short of taking any other major policy
action. In their post-meeting statement
Fed is expected to mark down its consensus forecast for forward-looking
economic growth.
Policymakers are likely to wait until at
least September before injecting the economy with another dose of
stimulus. If this assumption proves accurate,
today's event will probably have little, if any meaningful impact on the
current trend trajectory of mortgage interest rates. On the other hand, a surprise move by the Fed
that includes an announcement of the immediate implementation of additional
quantitative easing programs will serve to push mortgage interest rates
fractionally lower from current levels.
Such an outcome -- while certainly possible - does not appear to be very
probable.
THE
MARKET IS ALWAYS RIGHT! . YOU AND I ARE SOME OF THE TIME
