Between the lines of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s speech on the economy Wednesday was a pointed message: While you can all but bank on the Fed raising interest rates this month for the first time in nearly a decade, it’s the pace of subsequent increases that matters.
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And that may be even slower than Fed policymakers have suggested. Asked Wednesday if the central bank intends to hoist rates every other meeting, she said policymakers have no plans “to proceed over time in such a mechanical, calendar based way.” Rather, she said, economic data will dictate the pace of the moves.
So now we know that any “rate increase” will be (1) meaningless, and (2) not transition to anything meaningful anytime soon. Obviously, the dollar should soar and financial assets and precious metals should crash on this dovish news….