Quick Take: Hair-Trigger Ben and the Pointless Rate Cut
By Seth Jayson
October 5, 2007
It was the economy, stupid! That's what we were led to believe, at least, when Ben Bernanke and the Fed cut rates by half a point last month. They didn't do it to bail out Wall Street crybabies like Jim Cramer. Of course not. They did it because the jobs picture was so bad! A negative 4,000 for the month of August.
Today, we know that was wrong. The Labor Department's latest figures add up to an 89,000-job gain for the month. Knuckleheads are looking at the September job number (up 110,000) and already speculating that the Fed was "threading the needle" with that cut, something I suggested -- completely in jest -- a couple weeks back. Now, the new job report shows clearly that there was no needle to thread. And Wall Street rallies again. Bad news is good news (because it'll mean a rate cut!) and good news is good news, because it means consumers aren't heading into the poorhouse.
Anyone else wondering where the sanity went?
What do the unfolding financial crisis and ongoing market volatility mean for your money? The Fool's here with answers. Get the best of our daily commentary and analysis in your inbox simply by entering your email address in the box below.
Terms & Conditions
RSS Headlines
Fool UK