For the past ten years or so, I have argued that investors in the stock market have placed most of their attention on the behavior of the Federal Reserve System.
For much of this time Federal Reserve officials led by Chairman Ben Bernanke overtly focused on the stock market with the intention of creating a wealth effect in the economy that would stimulate consumption expenditures, and, in doing so, would stimulate the economic recovery from the Great Recession.
As the economic recovery progressed, the Fed, although it moved to raise its policy rate of interest