A DOSE OF ACCOMMODATION — WARSH RAISES THE PRICE OF MONEY AND WON’T CALL IT A HIKE — WALL STREET COUNTS MORE DOSES COMING

Kevin Warsh raised the price of money on Wednesday and refused to call it that. The Fed lifted its rate a quarter point, to a range of 3¾ to 4 percent, its first increase since 2023. Warsh would not say the word tightening. He said the Fed had “removed a dose of accommodation,” and he said it more than once, on purpose. Strip the bedside manner and the arithmetic is plain: money is more expensive this week than last, and a chairman who says “inflation is too high and has been for too long” is warning there are more doses to pull. A dose is a portion, and portions come in a series. That is why traders spent the afternoon adding hikes instead of counting the last one, futures now lean toward an October follow-up and price three or four more before he is done. Warsh handed them no map. “I’m not in the forward guidance business,” he said, and “I’m not going to pre-judge any future decisions we make.” So Wall Street read the words he did give. A chairman who thinks money is still too cheap intends to keep making it more expensive. Count the doses.