Fed On Hold, Nods To Softer Jobs Market, Inflation Progress

The Fed kept rates on hold as expected Wednesday. Notwithstanding the exhortations of Bill Dudley and Mohamed El-Erian, there was no chance of a cut at this meeting. Although I'm sympathetic to the self-evident notion that a Fed which wants to land the proverbial plane softly is a Fed that cuts proactively, for "insurance" purposes, not a Fed that cuts reactively, when the labor market turns, the balance of the data doesn't justify a cut quite yet. The "Why wait?" question's a good one, thoug