Next Up... The Fed

Of course the Fed makes their next interest rate announcement on Halloween. Seems appropriate. The market is spooky right now.

The big question is, .25 or .5% cut? Right now the market is pricing in 100% chance in a .25% cut and only about 20 percent for a half point reduction. Remember the Fed surprised us last time with the half point cut.

We did see the market boost Friday on rumors of an emergency rate cut of .5%. Didn't happen. And the timing seemed awfully odd. Why wouldn't they just wait the three business days? But that is Mr. Market for you. Just plain old weird.

Kind of like Microsoft paying $240 million for a 1.6% ownership interest in Facebook. That seems like a really steep price to me. That puts a value of $15 billion on Facebook. I know that Microsoft gets exclusive advertising rights...to what extent that really means, I'm not sure. But $15 Billion for Facebook? I can't get over that. Rupert Murdoch purchased MySpace in 2005 for $580 million. See my shock?

Did Google inadvertantly win this one too? Did Microsoft feel the need to make a splash after having it handed to them again and again by the Google goons? I think this is a good possibility. We will see if this transpired.

And by the way, I haven't heard if Stan O'Neal is gone from Merrill Lynch yet. I thought that was supposed to be a done deal? The stock rallied over 5% Friday based on that news. I'm guessing it will still happen. Too much stuff between the larger than expected write down and then the unapproved contact with Wachovia about a possible merger.

What are your thoughts? I would love to hear some comments. In fact, first three to comment, get me your mailing address and I will shoot you a Financial Bullet magnet for your time. US only. Sorry my international friends.