The change in stance by the Federal Reserve from its announced plan in late December to continue hiking interest rates and reducing its balance sheet in 2019, to its early January announcement that it may have reached rate "normalization' already and will be open to adjustments to its balance sheet going forward, means Powell has fallen into line with his predecessors to provide a protective "Put" to equity market valuation levels. This is a significant policy change, and could potentially extend the market bounce we've seen since the start of the New Year. However, economic fundamentals are weakening, so 2019 might continue the volatile pattern from 2018 as the competing forces of liquidity and weak fundamentals tug at valuation from opposite sides. In this podcast, Randy provides some history of the development of the Fed and gives investors some thoughts about what this new dynamic might mean for their portfolios.