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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 10/22/14

The Fix Is In -- Fed Stops Stock Slide with Talk of QE Extension

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Reprinted from Counterpunch

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Unbelievable.

On Wednesday, stocks were hammered after economic data showed that the US and global economies were headed for a major slowdown. By mid-day, the Dow was down 460 points before clawing its way back to minus 173 points. It looked like the market was set for another triple-digit flogging on Thursday when the Fed stepped in and started talking-up an extension to QE3. That's all it took to ease investors jitters, stop the meltdown and send equities rocketing back into space. By the end of Friday's session, all the markets were back in the green with the Dow logging an impressive 263 points on the day. Here's more background from Wolf Street:

"But just when some profusely sweating souls on Wall Street thought that the bottom was falling out, a savior appears. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard got on Bloomberg TV and pressed the red panic button (and) handed them what they wanted...That was enough.

"Using declining inflation expectations as a pretext, he proposed to delay the end of QE. The Fed should continue buying $15 billion in securities a month... it instantly turned around the markets. The spoiled brats on Wall Street were ecstatic to imagine that the Fed might continue to deliver the goodies they've become addicted to, and without which life seems unbearable." ("This Market is Driven by Psychology and Momentum," which "Works Really Painfully on the Way Down," Wolf Street)

For those readers who still think that the Fed doesn't meddle in the markets: Think again. Friday's stock surge had nothing to do with productivity, price, earnings, growth or any of the other so called fundamentals. It was all about manipulation; telling people what they want to hear, so they do exactly what you want them to do. The pundits calls this jawboning, and the Fed has turned it into an art-form. All Bullard did was assure investors that the Fed "has their back," and, sure enough, another wild spending spree ensued. One can only imagine the backslapping and high-fives that broke out at the Central Bank following this latest flimflam.

As most people now realize, stocks haven't tripled in the last five years because the economy is expanding. Heck, no. The economy is still on all-fours and everyone knows it. The reason stocks have been flying-high is because the Fed added a hefty $4 trillion in red ink to its balance sheet. Naturally, when someone buys $4 trillion in financial assets, the price of financial assets go up.

Who would've known?

And here's something else to chew on: On Thursday I wrote an article titled "Stocks Plunge 460 Points on QE Exit." Among the 2 or 3 thousand other articles on the topic in the mainstream, not one mentioned the fact that QE was set to end at the end of October. Instead, they pointed to sluggishness in Europe and China, and weaker-than-expected economic data in the US as the proximate causes of the downturn.

So let me ask you this, dear reader, if the end of QE was not the real trigger for the Dow's 460 point bungee jump, then why did the markets do a quick 180 right after Bullard made his statement on Thursday? In fact, the media even admits that point now. Check out this article on Marketwatch on Friday titled "Bullard's surprise suggestion of continuing QE lifts markets":

"A comment from a hawkish Federal Reserve official on Thursday that central-bank bond buying should continue beyond its scheduled end lifted stock markets and surprised many observers.

"The Federal Reserve should consider extending its bond-buying program beyond October due to the market selloff to see how the U.S. economic outlook evolves, said James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis Fed, on Thursday. ...

"'If the economy is still as robust as I am describing it, then I think we could just end the program in December. But if the market is right, and this is portending something more serious for the U.S. economy, than the committee would have an option of ramping up QE at that point,' he said.

"The S&P 500 SPX, +1.65% jumped from its session low of a 0.9% drop after Bullard's remarks came out." (Bullard's surprise suggestion of continuing QE lifts markets, Marketwatch)

How do you like that? Just one word from the Fed and the markets do an immediate about-face. Now that's power.

It's too bad the Fed can't put in a good word for the real economy while they're at it. But, oh, I forgot that the real economy is stuffed with working stiffs who don't warrant the same kind of treatment as the esteemed supermen who trade stocks for a living. Besides, the Fed doesn't give a rip about the real economy. If it did, it would have loaded up on infrastructure bonds instead of funky mortgage backed securities (MBS). The difference between the two is pretty stark: Infrastructure bonds put people to work, circulate money, boost economic activity, and strengthen growth. In contrast, MBS purchases help to fatten the bank accounts of the fraudsters who created the financial crisis while doing bupkis for the economy. Guess who the Fed chose to help out?

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Mike is a freelance writer living in Washington state.

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