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Opinion
John Authers

The Fed Has No Choice But to Let This Tantrum Rip

With inflation having gained momentum, policy makers can no longer calm things down. Indulging the bond market last year may prove a critical mistake.

The Fed has nothing to say.

The Fed has nothing to say.

Photographer: Jacobsen/Archive Photos/Getty Images

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There are ways of overcoming modesty. Central banks customarily go into self-imposed silence ahead of important monetary policy meetings. In  Britain this is nicknamed “purdah,” after the religious practice of separating women from men with a curtain. With the Federal Open Markets Committee due to meet Wednesday, there was no way policy makers could guide the market on how last week’s awful inflation data for May had changed their plans. But somehow people got the gist.