Just don't scare the markets

Alan Greenspan and the Fed, by cutting rates a half-percentage point four weeks earlier than investors expected, broke its cardinal rule: don't surprise the financial markets. The rare action on 3 January produced more questions than answers about the Federal Reserve's plans for interacting with the economy and markets this year. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues signaled that they share Wall Street's fear that the economy is weakening too much. The move succeeded in surprising markets and getting maximum mileage out of what's expected to be the first of a number of cuts. It ...