On Tuesday this week, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent Wall Street in a dive, primarily the tech stocks. In a comment on a podcast interview at a web-conference organized by the Atlantic Magazine, Yellen aired the thought that interest rates might move higher due to the upcoming strong economic recovery. Later, Yellen downplayed her own comments, but Wall Street already sent the stocks lower.

One could say that since mid-February, the risk of higher interest rates has been a top theme on Wall Street and sent tech stocks into heavy losses during these periods. Regardless of prior moves and comments, I argue that Yellen would like to push the US central bank, the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed), to prepare a rate hike earlier than the Fed has laid out in its guidelines. I allow myself to take the thinking a step further —  I argue that the move in interest rates that Yellen is trying to provoke simply signifies that the American economic growth is very rapidly coming back on track. Again, that analysis is not new either, that’s correct, but I give Yellen’s comment much more weight than many others in the financial market as it confirms how strong the economic move is in the US.

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