Traders and stock market pundits are talking about a "Powell put," after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell presided over a decision in late January to ease off on rate hikes. It's a callback to the fabled Greenspan put, which was the idea that Fed chief Alan Greenspan in the 1990s and early 2000s would never allow the stock market to fall too far.Worth decoding is the Wall Street jargon: A put is a trade that pays off when shares fall. Investors can use it as a kind of insurance. But if you expect the central bank to step in and ease monetary conditions whenever the market gets anxious, that's almost as good a safety net. Hence the notion of the Fed providing every investor with a put.
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