First it was the loudly broadcast convening of the Working Group on Financial Markets - aka "the Plunge Protection Team" - by the PPT's el Jefe, Steven Mnuchin. This was followed the "mouse that roared" speech from Fed head, Jerome Powell, hinting that the Fed would moon-walk away from rate hikes.
Today was trial Hindenburg launched by the Wall St Journal suggesting that the Fed was considering curtailing the the FOMC's balance sheet Weight Watchers program. The terminology used to describe the Fed's actions is Orwellian vernacular. "Reserve levels" - as in, "leaving more reserves on the Fed's balance sheet" - sounds mundane. In plain-speak, this is simply the amount of money the Fed printed and will leave in the financial system or risk crashing the stock market.
I suggested in the January 13th issue of my Short Seller's Journal that the Fed would likely halt QT: "The economy is headed toward a severe recession. I'm certain the key officials at the Fed and White House are aware of this (perhaps not Trump but some of his advisors). I suspect that the Fed's monetary policy will be reversed in 2019. They'll first announce halting QT. That should be bad news because of the implications but the hedge fund algos and retail day-trader zombies will buy that announcement. We will sell into that spike."
Little did I realize when I wrote that two weeks ago that the assertion would be validated just two weeks later. When this fails to re-stimulate economic activity, the Fed will eventually resume printing money. Ultimately the market will figure out that it's a very bad thing that the only thing holding up the stock market is the Fed.
The policy reversal by the Fed reflects panic at the Fed. Nothing reflects "Fed Panic" better than the price of gold:
