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| March FOMC Meeting (#1) - Mar. 27, 2006 |
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Summary
This morning, The Federal Open Market Committee commenced its first policy meeting with Ben Bernanke at the helm. This FOMC get-together is a two-day affair, and since it is the first over which Bernanke will preside, tomorrow's post-meeting statement will receive heightened scrutiny.
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Rate wise, Bernanke will generate no surprises coming out of his first FOMC meeting. The fed funds futures market continues to point to a quarter-point hike in the funds rate, to 4.75%, and it is a virtual certainty that is what will be announced tomorrow. Thus, the item of genuine interest is the wording of tomorrow's post-meeting statement, due out at 2:15 PM (ET).
Under Greenspan, these documents were a pure art form of manipulation. As moronic as it might seem now that the "Maestro" has passed from the scene, out pimping multi-million-dollar book deals and the like, something as complex and important as US monetary policy had been reduced to a few buzzwords like "accommodative" and "measured." Tomorrow will provide Bernanke's an early opportunity to establish his own persona.
On the other hand, no matter what the communique says in reality may bear little relationship to what Wall Street says it says. The Street's spin surgeons have derived too much fun and profit from these period events to change their stripes now. More tomorrow...
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