We’ve reported in these pages that a comical title for the Federal Open Market Committee is the Federal Open Mouth Committee. The reason for this joke is on full display this week. It appears there is a bit of dissension in the ranks about when tapering and the raising of the Federal Funds rate will occur. This potentially alarming development for investors should be taken with a grain of salt. In a way, some of what the regional Fed governors were saying is actually quite bullish. The thrust of their comments seems to be based upon an assumption that there will be a particularly booming recovery once the virus subsides.

Some of the more hawkish members of the board appear to be having the beginning of a conversation on tapering and rate rises and appear a bit more willing to depart from the official line in less formal comments. Some speculation has been fueled by the steepening of the yield curve and the potential that a booming recovery could lead to rate cuts sooner than is currently forecast.

Of course, the comments of Fed governors set off speculation in markets of preliminary tapering and rate rises. The culprit was a collection of comments from some of the regional bank presidents.

Raphael Bostic, the President of the Atlanta Fed said he was open to a late-202...

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