Markets like to read the meeting minutes of the Federal Reserve’s FOMC. Much if not most of the time there’s not much new in them. But sometimes even when there is not much new, they can still have an impact on the market.

If investors were looking for one negative piece of news, they found it in the minutes from the most recent meeting, July 28-29. As the stock market raced to new all-time highs on Tuesday and into Wednesday afternoon, the minutes were what some consider a reality check. Well, a short-lived reality check at best is what I would call it.

They reiterated that the Fed is going to keep rates at zero for the foreseeable future. It stands ready to use all its tools to support the economy, including buying fixed income assets. But most importantly, the minutes noted that the ongoing health crisis would “weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term” and that is “was posing considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term”.

This was enough to throw stocks off about 1% from their prior all-time high. Rest assured though, they made a new all-time high by Thursday afternoon. I guess the stock market is forward looking?

If there was one thing that most all fed officials agreed on, it is that more fisca...

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