Impact of Fed rate hike disappointing

RARELY has a US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting been as widely anticipated as the one held this week, and rarely has its impact been as disappointing. After almost unanimously discounting a first rate-hike in seven years in the runup to the meeting, then seemingly embracing it when the FOMC delivered it on Wednesday, Wall Street's sudden slump on Thursday suggests that markets are still locked in monetary expansion mode, preferring rates to remain depressed.

News reports on Wednesday attributed the US market's rise that day to the Fed's "dovish" comments, namely that rate hikes would be "gradual". Most commentators described it as a "relief rally", that is, investors, relieved that a hike had finally arrived, were buying because a hike meant t…