Some things of note

Let's remind ourselves from Monday that those who were calling for the Fed to slash and burn the fed funds rate and even before the next meeting was not because there was an economic meltdown going on but because we had a lot of FX volatility and a sell off in stocks. I get it, the Fed has trained us all too well. That said, I do believe the Fed should start gradually cutting rates, even 50 bps in September, but to believe that right now the Fed is going to start freaking out, it's not happening. 

However, if the S&P 500 is instead at 3500-4000 instead of just above 5000, then we also assume credit markets have notably tightened up and the Fed then needs to start taking into account their 3rd mandate, the wealth effect as higher end spend is helping to hold the US economy on its shoulders.

Voting member Tom Barkin said yesterday, "It's hard to make the case that something has just happened that is monumental on the equity side." On the economic side, "It think you've got some time in a healthy economy to figure out whether this is an economy that's gently moving into a normalizing state that will allow you to, in a steady deliberate way, normalize rates or...is this one where you really do have to lean into it." On prices, "all the elements of inflation seem to be settling down and I'm relatively hopeful based on the conversations I'm having that that's going to continue."

With very little data out there, addressed below, here are some of the noteworthy earnings comments.