These are anxious times on Wall Street, despite the sparkling quarterly results trotted out by the likes of Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley. The pall cast last week by General Motors' profits warning-which prompted selling of risky assets from junk bonds to emerging-market currencies-still hangs heavy in the air. On March 22nd the Federal Reserve dispelled a bit of the malaise by confirming expectations that it would raise short-term interest rates by only one-quarter of a percentage point, to 2.75%, and continue on its merry "measured" way. But it also pointed out that inflationary pressures had increased, and Treasury bonds fell further.
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