The Fed Manages to Surpass Sir Humphrey Appleby

The classic TV series 'Yes Minister' and 'Yes Prime Minister' were brilliant pieces of satire that remarkably are even more relevant now than when first made during the late 1970s. The observations around Britain's awkward place within the Common Market were hilarious and probably foresaw the Brexit situation a few decades later. The most outstanding character was one of the senior Civil Service heads, Sir Humphrey Appleby. He was famous for making verbose pronouncements that actually managed to say nothing. I think Sir Humphrey would have enormous admiration for the utterances from the US Federal Reserve in relation to interest rates. The latest example of 'Fed-speak' by William Dudley (a unique dialect that says a lot and nothing at the same time) goes thus: "We are edging closer towards the point in time when it will be appropriate to raise rates further." The Fed has been talking up rate hikes for years now, but managed a mere 25-basis point rise in all this time. The key takeaway from all of this is stick with GOLD!