As September begins, the Federal Reserve has a decision to make. The federal funds rate set by the central bank has been at basically zero since December 2008, and leaders have long pointed to their September meeting as the time for “lift-off” — in other words, to begin to hike rates.
Fate intervened with last week’s stock market volatility, though it should be pointed out that the market was up for the week and also isn’t the real economy. Still, investors assumed that, at a time when the global economy, particularly China, appears to be faltering, the Fed might show some patience.