Warsh’s First FOMC: No Rate Change, Hawkish Tone, and Markets Slide on Yield Curve Flattening
David Bahnsen recaps a major market day following the first FOMC meeting chaired by Kevin Warsh, where the Fed left rates unchanged but offered a notably brief statement with little forward guidance. The dot plot implied higher rates ahead, though Warsh declined to submit his own projection, reinforcing his opposition to forward guidance as a policy tool. In his first press conference, Warsh announced five task forces covering Fed communications, the balance sheet, data sources, productivity and jobs, and inflation frameworks, and emphasized focusing on what data says about the economy rather than predicting the Fed’s reaction. Markets sold off: the Dow swung from +280 to close -500, the S&P fell 1.25%, and the Nasdaq more than 1.25%, alongside a yield-curve flattening with short rates up far more than the 10-year. All 11 S&P sectors ended down.
00:00 Welcome and Setup
00:10 Fed Meeting Recap
01:14 Dot Plot and Guidance
01:55 Five Fed Task Forces
02:44 Reaction Function Critique
04:17 Market Selloff and Yields
05:29 Sector Performance Breakdown
06:02 Economic Data Check
06:26 Wrap Up and Sign Off
Links mentioned in this episode: DividendCafe.com
David is the Founder, Managing Partner, and the Chief Investment Officer of The Bahnsen Group.
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