Volatility to linger no matter what Fed does

While investors, traders, and forecasters may be on the fence as to whether the Fed pulls the trigger today on the first US interest rate hike in nearly a decade, Wall Street’s “smart money” is decisive on one thing: Market volatility will linger.

Heading into today’s potentially momentous decision on interest rates from the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy-setting panel, speculative positions in index futures are the most net long on record.

To this crowd of hedge funds and other big speculators, it really doesn’t matter what the Fed does.