Market Awaits Ben Bernanke

Sometime after 2:15PM EST, the Federal Reserve's FOMC will divulge what they've been supposedly discussing today. The stock market gapped down this morning, then slowly clawed its way back up, but now sinking again. Hardly a bullish move.

There has been so much chatter of QE2 or QELite in the past month that the stock market, I'm afraid, has priced it in fully. Anything less coming out of Ben Bernanke may trigger a market sell-off; anything more may still trigger a sell-off, because investors (and algo bots programmed to mimic carbon-based investors and analysts) are now convinced that the US economy is in a very bad shape, probably worse than a year ago.

Benanke in a pickle. Why he bargained so hard to keep his job is still a mystery to me, unless he was promised untold riches to be had once he's no longer the Fed chairman. Maybe a title of "Sir".

As for the stock market, traders will tell you that the initial move right after the FOMC announcement is usually a false one.

Tweet