Expectations shift as Fed releases new details

The Federal Reserve recently released the minutes from its mid-December meeting in which it announced a major shift in approach: Vowing to continue an expansionary monetary policy until unemployment hits 6.5 percent. 

But support for such a policy is apparently not unanimous.

“The Fed was talking about easing and buying treasuries, but now it seems that there is a significant segment of the Fed that say, ‘Hey, maybe by the end of the year, we are going to stop buying treasuries,'” says John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo.

Silvia says the newly revealed details will have an immediate effect on the market, as expectations about the Fed’s stimulus program shift.

“5, 7, 10 year treasury rates will go up — and they indeed have,” says Silvia.

To hear Silvia’s thoughts on earnings season, click on the audio player above.