The Fed met today. They held rates. No surprise.
But let's connect some events of the past few months with what was said today.
Remember, back in December, the Fed quietly restarted balance sheet expansion — buying Treasuries at a pace that Powell himself said would require $250 to $300 billion a year, permanently.
This was huge news. Within days, the Fed had flipped from shrinking the balance sheet, to expanding the balance sheet again.
By the next Fed meeting (January 28th) gold had made one of the biggest 35-day spikes in the past 50 years — mapping directly to the Fed's announcement to restart the liquidity spigot.
In that statement/press conference, what did Powell say about the revived liquidity injection program? Nothing.
How many questions did the room full of financial journalists ask about it in the press conference? Zero.
Fast forward to today, and the Fed has now pumped $100 billion into the economy over the past three months. In the Summary of Economic Projections, the Fed raised its growth and inflation projection.
What did Powell say about the ongoing aggressive balance sheet easing that happens to promote growth and inflation?
He didn't mention it. Nobody asked.
The silence seems intentional, and the media seems to oddly lack curiosity about it. The question is, why?
