FOMC Minutes Show Fed Ready To Taper Earlier Than Anticipated Since the last FOMC meeting (June 16th) – when Chair Powell admitted The Fed was talking about talking about talking about talking about tapering – bond (prices) have soared, gold has been dumped as the dollar surged… As a reminder, stocks tanked right after the Minutes, exaggerated by Bullard’s hawkishness… but were miraculously saved coincidentally right at the moment when The PPT was called to The White House… In recent days, the hawkish shift in market expectations that occurred right after the Fed meeting has waned a little Today’s Minutes will be all about how much “talking about” talking The Fed members actually did, what assets they discussed (MBS?), and how many of them are fearful of the bubble they’ve blown. As a reminder, 13 of 18 officials projected they would raise interest rates from near zero by 2023, with most expecting to raise their benchmark rate by 0.5 percentage point. Seven expected to raise rates next year. In March, most officials expected to hold rates steady through 2023. On ‘talking about’ the taper… Participants discussed the Federal Reserve’s asset purchases and progress toward the Committee’s goals since last December when the Committee adopted its guidance for asset purchases. The Committee’s standard of “substantial further progress” was generally seen as not having yet been met, though participants expected progress to continue. Various participants mentioned that they expected the conditions for beginning to reduce the pace of asset purchases to be met somewhat earlier than they had anticipated at previous meetings in light of incoming data. Some participants saw the incoming data as providing a less clear signal about the underlying economic momentum and judged that the Committee would have information in coming months to make a better assessment of the path of the labor market and inflation. As a result, several of these participants emphasized that the Committee should be patient in assessing progress toward its goals and in announcing changes to its plans for asset purchases. Nick Note: The Fed has got a great big problem. They got to taper NOW. The longer they fiddles fuck around the worse it will be. Before the end of the year they will have raised rates twice,,,,,,