Fed Chair Kevin Warsh Is Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place. And It Could Be a Problem for the Market
Is this your homework, Kevin?
Overview
Kevin Warsh didn't come here to make friends.
That much is clear after the new Fed Chair's second FOMC conference. Warsh spent roughly 45 minutes at the lectern, but the question-and-answer session amounted to something like an extended game of "I know you are, but what am I?" Warsh seemed to speak in riddles at times, saying things like, "The historic problem with data dependence is the data and the dependence." He rejected the notion that the no-move rate decision was a pause and generally seemed content to allow markets, such as treasuries, to respond to economic data, rather than the Fed.
Details
The FOMC statement, which has historically contained an analysis of the current economic situation explaining the Fed's thinking on the decision, was nearly an exact reprint of the previous statement in June, showing that Warsh either didn't think any of the data or circumstances the Fed considers had changed meaningfully, or that he ascribes such little value to the statement that he felt it was fair to copy his homework.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.