Last week it appeared that the stars had aligned. That, for the first time since the Pandemic's Economic Lock-Down, that the Fed would return to a more normal interest rate policy.

Inflation, seemingly the Fed's most important indicator for raising rates, inflation was now above their 2% benchmark.

Employment, the other principal mandate, was rising. We had seen job vacancies skyrocket, to nearly 10 million available positions. While the unemployment rate had slipped to just 5.8%, nearly half of the rate of last year at this time.