On the eve of Alan Greenspan's penultimate meeting at the helm of the Federal Open Market Committee, there seems to be little doubt about the actual rate decision. Here, as usual, are the odds of what will happen at tomorrow's pow wow, obtained from options on federal funds futures:
By the end of last week, just the tiniest crack in the certainty about the January meeting emerged...
... which not surprisingly revealed itself in the probabilities estimated for the March meeting:
The speculation of the day, of course, is whether the language of the press statement will change -- a topic duly covered by William Polley (here and here), by Mark Toma, and by Tim Iacona. No matter what happens, this speculation is probably embedded in the sentiments of the pictures above. In light of that, we'll plan on a special edition of the probability charts tomorrow.
Here's the data, for those whom it brings good cheer:
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