It's The Taper, Stupid!

Omicron is contributing to volatility, but it's plans for tapering that really have the market unsteady. And unless Powell walks back his hawkish commentary, don't expect anything to change.

It is astounding to me how much market commentary I have seen over the last 48 hours placing blame for the market “volatility” (read: 2% off all time highs) on the Omicron variant.

The extent of our recent “volatility”.

While there are definitely still some uncertainties about the new variant, early indications make it look as though it is not going to be…