The market will be consumed by the Fed and what policy makers will have to say for themselves next week. Investors collectively have already done some significant pre-meeting asset price damage this week. The bleeding only happened to stop after investors took some comfort in a WSJ Fed watch report suggesting that any bond tapering would be gradual in nature and that rates would remain “low” for a considerable period of time. A communication challenge remains for Ben and his policy-making cohorts. By now everyone should be aware that future Fed policy should undertake three distinct phases: tapering, pause and ... (full story)