Record-breaking stocks are a bad reason for the Fed to raise interest rates

[McFurd]

Business Insider - 2/6/2017 - Pedro Nicolaci da Costa - Federal Reserve officials say their decisions on interest-rate policy hinge on the ebb and flow of economic data, not the whims of financial markets. They have repeatedly downplayed the effect of short-term market fluctuations in their policy moves, aimed at maintaining a strong labor market and 2% inflation over the medium term. But the thing about markets is, they don't really matter until they suddenly do. That may be the case at the moment, with Fed officials suddenly signaling in unison, without major changes in the economic data, that an increase in interest rates is coming this month. Investors accordingly shifted from considering a March hike as rather a long shot to seeing it as a near certainty in just two weeks. Read more @ http://www.businessinsider.com/fed-movi ... cks-2017-3