Stocks, Bonds, & Gold Soar As Powell Shrugs Off Loosening Financial Conditions

After some initial volatility, US equity markets are charging higher…

…and bond yields lower…

After Fed Chair Powell appeared to shrug off the fact that financial conditions have dramatically loosened recently…

Specifically, Powell noted that financial conditions have tightened very significantly over the past year, and that “it is important that overall financial conditions reflect” monetary policy (which they don’t), but added that “our focus is not on short-term moves, but on sustained changes” to financial conditions.

Additionally, gold is extending its gains…

This is anything but the ‘hawkish’ rhetoric the market was expecting.