My take is that since the market reaction was instantaneous, without tell-tales and stayed negative through the rest of the session, it was not pre-planned, but happened to be a statement from the Gnomes to Ben Bernanke that 14 consecutive raises from June 2004 is enough, and that the market is saying that any more raises (which the Fed indicated would likely be forthcoming) would not be tolerated.

If there is such a thing as Fed-speak, this was market-speak.

It's not that the market is saying the Fed went too far today, but just that a pause in these rate hikes would be appreciated in order to give corporations a chance to catch up earnings-wise. As it is, this quarter's earnings season is not, in all likelihood, to stand up to expectations of continuous Fed raising.

As it is, bank prime lending rates, credit card rates, auto loans, and adjustable rate mortgages, are all going to be raised by the banks since the inverted yield curve is squeezing profitability elsewhere. Bankers know that combined with slow growth in disposable income and higher costs of energy and other commodities, their marginal customers are starting to become bad ones " or at least getting too close to the line for comfort.

So the Fed got a message today. End of story.

Do I think this weakness in stock and bond prices will persist through the balance of the week? Not really. I think the only condition likely to hammer equity prices further down would be a succession of weak corporate earnings reports.

Do I think that is likely? No, not with the superlative consumer confidence numbers published in the USA and Germany. Of course, the bond market will be a crucial indicator.

The 30-year T-Bond yield closed at 4.793, which was up +1.4 pct on the day. Another day like that would punish equity prices this week.

The Dow was just a couple points short of a triple digit loss today, and since it was a reaction to the Fed, I thought a snapshot would be in order.

Other than Semiconductors being off -1.4-pct on the day, most of the industry losses were unremarkable for a near triple digit loss session. Gold and silver miners were down -2.50-pct, but that was anticipated as a near-term move with the Fed rate hike and tomorrow may be different, but I feel that is unlikely.

By 10:00pm tonight, spot gold had fallen off to $561.30, which is a modest drop of less than -1.0-pct from the price following the FOMC announcement.