Last week, a slew of Federal Reserve officials talked up the likelihood of a rate hike in the meeting next week. Janet Yellen was at pains to stress that the reason for a likely rate hike was that the incoming economic data were as good as or better than Fed models predicted they would be.
Now market are putting the odds of a hike next week at 96%, a virtual certainty. But the very fact that Yellen and her compatriots commented on the likelihood of a rate hike at a specific meeting has been the subject of consternation.