The Federal Reserve has a math problem, and so do investing markets. Everyone from the president on down is demanding interest-rate cuts, lots of them. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell called the July rate cut a “mid-cycle” adjustment, and it has bought the Fed precious little as markets sold off in the wake off more trade tensions and yields continued to plummet. And now the markets are demanding more — a lot more. A 50-basis-point cut to the federal funds rate appears to be the bare minimum investors are demanding for September. Call it pricing it in, and the implication is clear: The Fed can ill afford to disappoint. ... (full story)