Ah, good topic. There was an interesting interview today of a couple of former Fed governors. One actually said that the market "wants a 50 bp rate cut." My immediate reaction was, oh man, if the Fed is really thinking this way, then they are on glue. But then the other one came on and asserted 25. My instinct is that the 25 bp choice is the course least likely to tank the market. Some traders believe that a 50 bp rate cut means the Fed is out of bullets, but of course the Fed is never really out of bullets; however, my gut trader instinct is to short the shit out of any spike after a larger cut. Until the next round of economic numbers appear confirming that the economy is picking up, then there's little reason to buy imo, and any action will be dictated by the next round of earnings. The wrench in this scenario is the correction that has occurred before the meeting; ideally, we would have lofted right into the meeting, but of course the market never accommodates. The remaining option is no rate cut whatsoever. Although perverse, would it not signal that the Fed has confidence in the economy and therefore any sudden drop to such a decision would present a buying opportunity? I typically like to fade any spikes either way and then stick with the contra, but we have had as many as 3 or 4 contras the past few meetings, so I'm probably going to abstain tomorrow except in the 50 bp scenario, if it develops.
PTR