As if there was ever any doubt that the Fed would hike the federal funds rate another 25 basis points, stocks shot up at the open and maintained a very positive stance right up until 2:00 pm ET, when the Fed did what everybody knew they would do all along.
Seriously, who in their right mind was buying prior to the rate hike? People with money to burn?
To get an idea of the kind of lunatics trading stocks on Wall Street, the Dow was up just about 300 points at 1:57 pm. By 2:08 pm - following the policy announcement - it was essentially flat... and it went down from there, eventually losing 351 points, closing at a new low for 2018.
Over the same time span, the NASDAQ was up 65 points, but 11 minutes later was down 38. The same fate that befell the Dow was true for NASDAQ, S&P, and NYSE Composite: fresh 2018 lows.
The Transportation Index was absolutely devastated, closing at 9,147.66, down 297.81 points (-3.15%), pushing the transports into bear market territory, down 21% from its September high.
OK, so it was one of those "heads, Fed wins, tails, you lose," kind of deal. There was no way the Fed was going to surprise anybody. It's simply not their style. They telegraph everything they do, because they're so, so important to the proper functioning of the economy, and they never balk at even the most obvious data or implication. Balderdash.
The Fed should be run out of town just like all other central banks have been, but the US sheeple population has put up with this particular band of thieves for the past 105 years. The Fed is why we have booms and busts, never-ending inflation, recessions, absurdly high interest rates on credit cards, and incomes that just don't quite match up with expenses for much of the former middle class.
The good news about the Fed's rate increase is that it may be the last one for a while. They may hike a few times in 2019, or, depending on how the stock market and/or ec responds, they may not hike at all. Meanwhile, they'll keep losing money by unwinding their massive, overvalued bond portfolio of US treasuries and toxic mortgage-backed securities dating from the sub-prime glory days.
Elsewhere, crude oil rallied a little bit, gaining to $47 and change per barrel. Gold and silver were punished, though each was down less than one percent. The real lashing will come tomorrow or at the latest, by the end of the year.
Thus, the Fed, in its infinite wisdom (greed), decided that it would be in its own best interests to destroy the global economy by hiking the overnight and prime rate for the ninth time since 2015.
Happy days for some. tears and more pain to come for many more.
Dow Jones Industrial Average December Scorecard:
| Date | Close | Gain/Loss | Cum. G/L |
| 12/3/18 | 25,826.43 | +287.97 | +287.97 |
| 12/4/18 | 25,027.07 | -799.36 | -511.39 |
| 12/6/18 | 24,947.67 | -79.40 | -590.79 |
| 12/7/18 | 24,388.95 | -558.72 | -1149.51 |
| 12/10/18 | 24,423.26 | +34.31 | -1115.20 |
| 12/11/18 | 24,370.24 | -53.02 | -1168.22 |
| 12/12/18 | 24,527.27 | +157.03 | -1011.19 |
| 12/13/18 | 24,597.38 | +70.11 | -941.08 |
| 12/14/18 | 24,100.51 | -496.87 | -1437.95 |
| 12/17/18 | 23,592.98 | -507.53 | -1945.58 |
| 12/18/18 | 23,675.64 | +82.66 | -1862.92 |
| 12/19/18 | 23,323.66 | -351.98 | -2214.90 |
At the Close, Wednesday, December 19, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 23,323.66, -351.98 (-1.49%)
NASDAQ: 6,636.83, -147.08 (-2.17%)
S&P 500: 2,506.96, -39.20 (-1.54%)
NYSE Composite: 11,371.84, -130.32 (-1.13%)
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