While much of the market is awaiting the FOMC rate decision, HedgeFolios is not on hold and this week’s signals will be coming out before Bernanke and the gang do their thing this afternoon. I hate days like today for several reasons. The first is that the signals at HedgeFolios will be affected dramatically by what happens today and since I base this week’s signals on analysis of last week’s data, much of my work is in jeopardy. Fortunately, HedgeFolios concentrates on longer term factors. After similar past situations, I have evaluated the performance of Fed weeks and found that the short term reaction has a measurable effect and then once the dust settles, the signals tend to show minimal impact from the Fed decision. Regardless, I hate being wrong (even in the short term) and by this afternoon, I expect to have some signals I wish I hadn’t changed and others I wish I had. Regret is one of life’s great motivators! The second reason I hate FOMC days is all the back and forth debate on financial media. My solution has been to hit the mute or turn on some music - at least until 2:14. Then I will pay attention. The final reason I hate FOMC days is seeing the market on hold. If there was ever clear evidence of how shortsighted our markets have become, watching everything come to almost a complete halt over the rate decision has to be the worst - at least for me.