I like to think of the Fed as an ornery old farmer, and the market is like a mule. Interest rate cuts are a swift kick to the mule’s backside, trying to get it working harder, while interest rate increases are a sugar cube and a pile of hay, telling the mule to relax a bit.

At this point, I think the more the Fed kicks, the less the mule is interested in working. The Fed is kicking as hard as possible, after all. The mule knows it can’t get kicked much longer, or much harder.

And as market participants, we know that when the Fed kicks that mule really hard, it’s because he’s worried it will stop working entirely.

Lowered interest rates from people who are ostensibly the most knowledgeable about them is information that says: “the stock market is not well. The economy is not well. We think it’s so not-well that we’re going to kick this mule as hard as possible to get it to do something.”

And the market is noticing all of this… the Fed’s kicks don’t work as well on this mule. At this point, they only convey negative information, as the mule stubbornly shrugs off the Fed’s violent kicks…