Tech stocks tipped up a bit after Fed Chairman Powell finally made some relatively less-alarming comments about raising central bank interest rates repeatedly and indefinitely - regardless of what happens to the economy or our retirement accounts.
This is already by far the biggest loss of wealth to those who saved and invested in many of America's most amazing companies. It should be no surprise that consumer confidence fell sharply as people read their shrinking 401(k) and IRA statements.
Chairman Powell's recent assurances about consumer "balance sheets" being "excellent shape" somehow neglected to consider our collapsing net worth, even when the lost savings were invested in Treasury bonds or blue chip high-dividend stocks.
The economy did not have a "soft landing" any other time U.S. tech stocks crashed - more gently than this time.
The COVID-19 "selloff" in March 2020, of course, was very brief and the Fed had nothing to do with that one.
But how could the Fed Chairman expect to do the same thing the Fed did in 2000 (raising rates) and 2008 (quantitative tightening) yet get a different result?
