The Obsession With The Fed

Courtesy of RobotTrader at Zero Hedge

Each quarter or so, we have to go through all the drama and anxiety surrounding the utterances out of the FOMC. Where thousands upon thousands of traders sit bug-eyed at the computer screens, watching the 1 min. charts of the EUR/USD, SPY, TLT, trying to get an "edge" over the other 428,584 daytrading jockeys on Wall St., all looking at the exact same thing. All with their fingers madly punching the F12 and F11 keys as if their puny keystrokes are going to make any difference 48 hours from now.

Here’s a picture of one such trader from a billion dollar fund in the Grand Caymans, obviously happy that the FOMC is keeping its rates near zero indefinitely:

watching the fed

Note the ridiculous spasms which occur within seconds of the Fed announcement. As if the fate of modern civilization was dependent upon the proper buy/sell decision after the statement is released:

When all that is really necessary is to sample a 15-min. chart of the various and assorted junker plays, which is a truer and more accurate barometer of wild-eyed speculation:

The usual suspects like these:

I mean, people cannot wait to score another 150% gain on these stocks in a matter of week if there is any hint that the "Animal Spirits" are going to resume.

Of course, Goldman is always up to its usual tricks.

Anybody see Hartford gap up $2.50 after hours last night? How many Bottle Rocket chasers dryhumped that stock on the open today?

Oops….

Heh, you simply cannot win against Goldman if you are a decent sized fund overexposed to single stocks.

Same thing with Garmin. They had that stock gapped up good in the pre-market.

Now down 15%….

Just another day in the jungle, where Goldman continues to attack its largest clients when it sees outsized positions in specific stocks.

Then after the dust clears, Ben and Timmy simply close their briefcases, shake hands, and quietly leave the building smirking after creating all that chaos.