China and the Fed

The Federal Reserve brain trust must be rolling their eyes at the latest market turmoil resulting from China’s currency devaluation – first Greece, now China.

Keen on notching that first rate increase in about a decade, lest they be accused of leaving rates “too low for too long” again amid more “Fed-bubble machine” accusations, they are now growing more fearful of repeating the European Central Bank’s 2011 error when they raised short-term rates on nascent signs of inflation, only to reverse course months later.

Here’s Art Cashin’s take on the situation:

There’s nothing worse than a central bank that makes a bad situation worse and the trade-off here is whether the Fed’s action or inaction results in a near-term market crash or bigger asset bubbles later. My guess is that it will be the former combination.