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This week was centered around the Federal Reserve and their FOMC meeting. The Fed has finally acknowledged inflation as the greatest threat to the economy that is not going to fix itself. Leading up to this meeting members, including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, suggested the Fed would shift its plans and speed up its tapering process to make room for more rate hikes next year if necessary. Stocks sold off in the days leading up to the press conference where the FOMC would come public with decisions ...

Stocks opened higher on Thursday but the rally didn't last long as the bears decided to pounce on an opportunity to sell the big rally off of Wednesday's wild Fed day. The Dow only lost about 30-points, but the broader indices like the Nasdaq and small caps were beaten down again. Yields sank so bonds were up, and the dollar broke down from its formation.

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No surprises. Stocks swung wildly yesterday with steep big early and strong gains by the close. Perhaps the best news for investors was that the Fed is still doing what they said they would, so there were no surprises, and the market had all of that already priced in. The Dow gained 383-points, which was about 540 points off the lows. Small caps retouched their lows before rebounding with the rest of the market. Bonds were down and the chart looks a little broken again.

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Stocks were lower again on Tuesday after another hot inflation number from the PPI report, Producer Price Index. The Dow lost 107-points, which was well off the lows, as were several indices, but the bears won the battle yesterday. Once again the bond market, although slightly down on the day, is not reacting to inflationary data the way we might expect, but bonds are also used as a safe haven when stocks are falling, and that may have been the case in recent weeks.

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Stocks stumbled to start the week in front of this week's Fed meeting. The Dow lost 320-points on Monday after trying to grind higher from the morning lows, only to see another wave of sharp selling in the final 30 minutes of trading. The Nasdaq and the small caps lagged, although the S-fund's DWCPF index did close off the lows showing some potential buying interest at these levels. Bonds were up as yields continue to slide.

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