The wind up for the most telegraphed rate hike in history was supposed to achieve one thing: generate benign inflation in the form of a rising short end and a broadly steeper yield curve, or in short: boost inflation expectations without crashing the market (recall after 7 years of ZIRP and QE all the media is blasting is that “rate hikes are good for stocks”) – after all why else would the Fed be hiking rates if not to offset the market’s inflationary expectations and to have “dry policy powder” ahead of the next recession, even if said powder was a meager 25 basis points.