The indices ahead of the feds. Dia is down. You have the qqq, the qs down. 5 . The spy that tracks the s p 500 and that is lower. The iwm that tracks the russell 2,000 and that is down. There is the tenyear note, the yield at 2. 02. Gold up at 11. 53 an ounce. The euro is down i guess the euro is up against the dollar at 1. 06 and west texas crude is down another 2 . Look at that 42 quote on west texas crude. Lets get right to our senior economics reporter Steve Liesman on a roof somewhere in washington. On the feds roof. And i want to spend a minute because certainly someone just tuned in and said why are people spending all this time on the wort patient and why does it matter . And the reason why it matters so much is it gives the fed flexibility to hike Interest Rates. That word meant they would not hike Interest Rates for two meetings. It comes out as expected and gives them flexibility and begins a debate that has to do with valuing stocks and bonds over how quickly the hike rates
You know as we said in the report overall measures of equity valuations are on the high side but not outside of historical ranges. In some corporate debt markets we do see evidence of unusually low spreads, and thats what was referred to in the report. More broadly we do try to assess potential threats to financial stability, and in addition to looking at asset valuations we also look at measures of credit growth, of the extent of leverage being used in the economy and in the financial sector, and the extent of maturity transformation, and taking into account a broad range of metrics that bear on financial stability, our overall assessment at this point is the threats are moderate. Jen and then steve nelson. Jen lomberto politico. I want to ask about some of the tension between the fed and congress lately with some lawmakers calling for more transparency and accountability measures. I wanted to ask to what degree that there might be room for the fed to consider some of these measures l
This year is coming to a close and people all over the world are joining in on the New Year's Eve celebrations, but one bad decision and these good times can turn deadly.