Last week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting concluded with no news and not much different from the Fed’s previous plans to expand its balance sheet to stabilize markets. Policymakers once again made it clear, as if it were really necessary, that the Fed has the market’s back.

Anyway, it is not as if any trader or investor conscious for the past eight weeks ever doubted the Fed’s desire to appease. But you know, it’s just a little love in these tough times. At the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting, the Federal Reserve didn’t unveil any new programs, but the central bank did pledge lasting support for the economy. The market and the Fed are married. Till death do they part.

The Fed opened the money spigots in March, with a huge trillion dollar bond buying program, and also supported other parts of financial markets to support the availability of credit. To judge by stock markets so far, it has been a resounding success, this despite the high likelihood of a recession this year. We had a negative 4.8% 1Q GDP print.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell had this to say: “…We are going to not be in any hurry to withdraw these measures…We are going to wait until we are quite confident that the economy is well on the road to recovery” before backing off.

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