The Fed has made me even more certain about the Dow

If the Fed announcement taught us anything, says John C Burford, it's that stockmarkets aren't allowed to fail.

The Oracle spoke and my Wednesday prediction came true. The Fed won't raise interest rates until the data allow. In other words, a decision has been put off using the usual fuzzy language. Remember, the Fed committee is comprised of economists and you will never find a one-handed one ("On one hand")

But what was interesting to me was the excuse given that "heightened uncertainties abroad" (translation: the collapse in Chinese share prices) had been a major factor. If this is not the most blatant admission that the Fed's job is primarily to keep the stockmarket bubbles inflated, I don't know what is.

Try 6 free issues of MoneyWeek today

Get unparalleled financial insight, analysis and expert opinion you can profit from.

Start your trial
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up for MoneyWeek’s free twice-daily newsletter.

Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Sign up
Latest Videos FromMoneyWeek

John is is a British-born lapsed PhD physicist, who previously worked for Nasa on the Mars exploration team. He is a former commodity trading advisor with the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and worked in a boutique futures house in California in the 1980s.

 

He was a partner in one of the first futures newsletter advisory services, based in Washington DC, specialising in pork bellies and currencies. John is primarily a chart-reading trader, having cut his trading teeth in the days before PCs.

 

As well as his work in the financial world, he has launched, run and sold several 'real' businesses producing 'real' products.