Pep Talk

"The stock market has about as much influence on my daily life as baseball." -- Resident cynic Pug Mahoney

  Some 211,000 jobs were added in America last month, while the unemployment rate held steady at 5 percent, according to government reports.
   Separately, the Federal Reserve noted the overall economy continues to improve moderately, leading Fed Chair Janet Yellen to suggest that an increase in interest rates is likely soon.
   Economic pundits have been predicting a boost in Fed-controlled interest rates for months, as the nation's central bank pulls back from its seven-year program of minimal interest rates as a way of encouraging recovery. And they keep saying that as the economy becomes stronger, there will be less need for the Fed to pump more money into the economy to encourage growth.
   Whether that time has come is still an open question, and it could be that Yellen's testimony to Congress should be seen as a shout-out to investors, thus encouraging their confidence that growth will continue. Those hints and suggestions, however, are still no proof that the Fed actually will boost its key lending rate when it meets again two weeks from now.
   Such a move, however, would be a holiday gift to investors.
   In any case, there are three choices -- raise rates, lower rates, or do nothing. The Fed's key lending rate is near zero now, so there's virtually no room to go lower. An increase could stall what little growth potential is in the economy. The third option -- doing neither of the above, could well be the safer path to take, leaving a moderately healthy economy to continue its slow but steady growth rate.
   If it ain't broke, don't fix it.