James Bullard-Mr. Hawk himself-claimed that the minutes were "stale" and that things have improved since then. He claimed that if the economy continues to grow at 2% that is enough to require no further action.
"Stocks turned sharply higher Friday, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated that there is further room for the central bank to act."
"There is scope for further action by the Federal Reserve to ease financial conditions and strengthen the recovery," Bernanke wrote in a letter responding to questions posed by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Bernanke's comments echo remarks from the Fed's latest meeting minutes from earlier this week."
"The only thing that anyone’s expecting to get out of Bernanke is a hint of what type of measurement the Fed might do first,” said Warren Meyers, VP of floor operations at DME Securities. “[The Fed] opened up the window to do something sooner rather than later, but they didn’t describe which among the choices they have.”
"Investors, economists and even Fed officials were divided over whether stimulus measure in the form of further quantitative easing is in the cards after minutes of the Fed’s latest meeting hinted at further action. (Read More: Why Markets Should Cheer QE3 Is Not Coming Soon)"
The news that really had spooked the market early was worry over Greece:
"In Europe, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said the debt-ridden nation does not want more money from its euro zone partners, just time to breathe so that it can return to growth. Samaras has been arguing for more time beyond the mid-2014 deadline to complete the required reforms to receive bailout loans."
"But German Chancellor Angela Merkel did not commit to granting more time, saying she would await a report by the "troika" of international lenders due next month before taking further action."
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