In response to a piece in the FT Blog of Gavyn Davies on 24th January 2016, entitled 'US slowdown is now a headache for the Fed'
http://blogs.ft.com/gavyndavies/2016/01/24/us-slowdown-is-now-a-headache-for-the-fed/
"They are not likely to show any concern about the plummeting equity market in the official statement, since they will not wish to give any credence to the notion that the stock market is supported by a “Yellen put”.
That idea doesn't need any 'credence' except perhaps to someone who has spent the last 6 years wandering in the Amazonian rain forest or living as a recluse in their mum's cellar.
In the long run it doesn't matter what the Fed says - they are utterly clueless. They focus on lagging indicators, and even then manage to misinterpret those. The US economy is turning down, and they would know this if they looked at or understood the signals provided by leading indicators like the trade figures, new orders and inventories, industrial production, retail sales etc, which have been heading in the wrong direction for some time. Credit spreads and real wages have not been providing positive signals either.
The Fed are on their way to becoming a joke, albeit not a very funny one. This will increasingly make itself obvious to the mainstream media over the next few months, and perhaps even to the talking heads on CNBC Bubblevision. Personally I expect QE4, helicopter money and NIRP to be announced in 2016. In a sane world this would totally finish off the reputations of the Fed and the other monetary politburos in Frankfurt and Tokyo - but clearly we haven't been living in a sane world for some time now.
The Fed has no control over the economy, they never have - they don't create jobs, they don't facilitate trade, and they don't even understand how capitalism works. The only thing they know how to do is to juice markets, create bubbles and fix banks balance sheets.
The Fed's credibility is leaving port at long last - which is more than can be said for most of the ships that normally register on the Baltic Dry Index.