S&P 500: Why Today's Sizzle?

The S&P 500 sizzled last week on Thursday. It fizzled on Friday. Why is it sizzling again today?

On Friday, Reuters interviewed St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. As we observed in today's Morning Briefing, Bullard said that he favors “frontloading” hikes in the FFR, with a wait-and-see stance on 2023. In other words, he suggested that the Fed should go ahead with the widely expected 75bps hike in the rate at the November 1-2 meeting of the FOMC and another 75bps hike at the December 13-14 meeting. That would bring the FFR target range up to 4.50%-4.75%. But then Bullard went on to imply that the Fed should pause for a while. Bullard is often ahead of the pack on the direction of monetary policy.