President: "Mr. Gardener, do you agree with Ben, or do you think we can stimulate growth through temporary incentives?"
Chance the Gardener: "As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden."
President: "In the garden."
Chance the Gardener: "Yes, in the garden, growth has its seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again."
President: "Spring and summer."
Chance the Gardener: Yes.
President: "Then fall and winter."
Chance the Gardener: "Yes".
Benjamin Rand (nee Bernanke): I think what our insightful young friend is saying is that we welcome the inevitable seasons of nature, but we're upset by the seasons of our economy."
Chance the Gardener: Yes! There will be growth in the spring!"
Benjamin Rand (nee Bernanke): "Hmm!"
Chance the Gardener: "Hmm!"
President: "Hmm. Well, Mr. Gardener, I must admit that is one of the most refreshing and optimistic statements I've heard in a very, very long time. I admire your good, solid sense. That's precisely what we lack on Capitol Hill."

THE "BEING THERE" SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

It's a strange world and with every Fed utterance the reactions are always something to behold. The Fed just green-lighted a continued fall in the dollar and rise in commodity prices, and worse, they don't seem to care. They talk a good game regarding "tame inflation" but markets know better. Commodity price increases such as we've seen are heralding massive future inflation and a declining dollar while the Fed turns a blind eye. Creating a liquidity bubble is the easy short-term political choice. It will have a large exit fee down the road. It's appalling to me anyway.

Stocks can inflate along with a massive liquidity bubble since money is cheap and yields negative.

The fly in the ointment are bond vigilantes, both foreign and domestic, pushing interest rates gradually higher, and not just because stocks are higher, but because future inflation seems more certain despite official Fed policies. Deflation is the number one enemy for policy makers and traders in the pits know it.

The bottom line at the moment is we're still in this highly manipulated "yo-yo" market and dip buyers thought they had another opportunity which faded quickly later in the day. Since the Fed statement was the same as September's we're getting much the same reaction: "The first move's the wrong move."

Volume was typically higher for a Fed-type day but breadth was unremarkable.






























































































































































The Fed day was exciting for day traders and the media. But the buying intensity pooped-out in the last hour much like the previous Fed announcement. Investors got exactly what they expected and the current announcement was basically the same as September.

While we have Jobless Claims data tomorrow the next big thing is Friday's unemployment report. That report should set the tone for much of November. The consensus estimate is for job losses of 175,000 but with a wide range. While this is a much manipulated government report (the "birth/death model" is a joke) we'll see how investors play it.

Earnings reports tonight were basically well received despite how poor they were. CSCO beat much lowered expectations as sales and profit fell. No matter how you view such nonsense below is the after hours trading data:




Disclaimer: Among other issues the ETF Digest maintains positions in: VTI, TIP, GLD, DBC, EFA and EEM.