Who Pulled The Plug? Friday's Freefall In Perspective

Everything was going along so swimmingly for the elitists of the world.

Interest rates were near or below zero in nearly every developed nation (Japan, the EU, Switzerland, the main components of such madness), but in the USA the Federal Reserve continued to hint that they would like to "normalize" rates, or, in a manner not-so-kind, raise the short term federal funds rate a little, tiny bit more, maybe soon, like at the September FOMC meeting.

Well, stock investors would have no part of that, so, when Fed Governor Rosengren said that the economy was strong enough to warrant a rate hike at the next FOMC meeting, September 20-21,, the market opened with a bang to the downside. Regardless of the other Fed governors - Tarullo and Kaplan - who would speak later on Friday and offer more dovish comments on raising rates, it was too late. Strong hands in the market had made their moves, and no reassurances would correct that.

As Friday wore on, the selling intensified, with the major indices finishing a week that had been eerily quiet and unassuming with the biggest sell-off since January.

Strangely enough, although Fed governors and other economists believe the economy is in pretty good shape, one would be advised to get some input from the man on the street (those 95 million unemployed Americans) who isn't buying it, or from presidential polls, which show Donald Trump about to overtake Hillary Clinton and the status quo in what should amount to a landslide victory and a mandate for major policy overhaul in many areas of governance.

All told, it was a very disturbing week for the powers that be.

Friday's Fallout:
Dow Jones Industrial Average
18,085.45, -394.46 (-2.13%)

S&P 500
2,127.81, -53.49 (-2.45%)

NASDAQ
5,125.91, -133.57 (-2.54%)

NYSE Composite
10,613.53, -268.80 (-2.47%)

The Week:
Dow: -406.51 (-2.20%)
S&P 500: -52.17 (-2.39%)
NASDAQ: -123.99 (-2.36%)
NYSE Composite: -243.39 (-2.24%)