No big surprises here – especially with Bernanke on the way out, continued jitters stemming from the still-unresolved debt default issue and worse than expected unemployment numbers (likely to be further exacerbated once the effects of the shutdown are better understood). Moreover, we haven’t seen any real signs of inflation despite the Fed’s aggressive monetary policies – at least not yet. One interesting bit of trivia to come out of today’s announcement is that reporters (and others) receiving future Fed decisions will be required to surrender their cell phones at the door in an effort to prevent so-called “millisecond trading” – a phenomenon increasingly observed in the wake of past announcements.
[“Fed Maintains Stimulus, Awaiting Sustained Growth,” The New York Times, 10/30/2013]