Jerome Powell walked on stage yesterday at Stanford — not to move markets, not to hint at a rate cut, and definitely not to talk about inflation — but to honor a man he respected since college: George P. Shultz.

And before he said a single word about Shultz, Powell opened with this:

“Just to be clear, I will not address current economic conditions or monetary policy.”

He stuck to that.
Completely.

And that silence?
That was the whole story.

Markets were waiting for one thing:
A hint about the December FOMC meeting.

They didn’t get it.

In fact:

• Powell avoided all commentary on the economy

• Powell avoided any hint about interest rates

• Powell avoided any forward guidance

• Powell avoided even indirect signals

This wasn’t a mistake.
It was intentional.

Reuters nailed it:
Powell stayed quiet to avoid influencing markets ahead of the Fed’s December policy decision.

He refused to feed the market what it wanted.

And that silence tells you more than a scripted speech ever could.

Powell’s silence matters because:

• Wall Street is pricing in an 87% chance of a 25 bps rate cut in December

• Crypto traders are praying for “liquidity season”

• Every risk asset is starving for a macro trigger

• Quantitative tightening only just ended in late October

But Powell wasn’t about to be the spark.

Financial Express confirmed it:
His speech explicitly avoided economic topics because the Fed didn’t want to sway markets pre-meeting.

This wasn’t dovish.
This wasn’t hawkish.
It was neutral by design.

Powell’s message was simply:

“Wait for the meeting.”

Here’s what Powell’s silence creates:

Markets hate uncertainty more than bad news.

He didn’t validate the market’s expectations.

He kept every narrative alive — bullish and bearish.

Crypto, tech, and small-caps need clarity to run.

Livemint put it bluntly:
Powell’s speech offered “no economic or policy guidance” as he honored Shultz.

This is Powell saying:
“Don’t try to frontrun me.”

Crypto doesn’t move off vibes.
Crypto moves off liquidity.

And liquidity moves off:

• rate cuts

• monetary policy tone

• dollar strength

• long-end yields

• balance sheet decisions

Powell gave zero clues about any of these.

That means:

• Altcoins stay shaky

• Bitcoin stays range-bound

• New launches stay fragile

• Meme-cycles stay inconsistent

• Rotations stay shallow

Everyone is waiting on the same thing:
the December FOMC decision.

This part didn’t trend on CT — but it matters:

Axios confirmed Trump already picked who he wants as the next Fed chair.

That means:

• Powell’s days are numbered

• Policy tone could shift sharply

• Markets may start pricing the future chair, not Powell

• Liquidity expectations could get rewritten overnight

The next chair could mean:

• looser policy

• tighter policy

• or a brand-new framework

This is a macro wildcard the market hasn’t priced in yet.

Everything now hinges on one event:

There are only three paths:

If the Fed cuts:

• Liquidity flows

• Risk assets recover

• BTC ignites

• Alts breathe again

• New chains stabilize

• Meme liquidity comes back

Crypto goes risk-on.

If Powell says:
“Cuts coming soon”

then:

• BTC chops

• Alts stay depressed but hopeful

• Sentiment improves

• Funding remains tight

Crypto enters a slow accumulation phase.

If Powell says:
“We’re not close to cutting”

then:

• Dollar strengthens

• Yields spike

• BTC dips

• High beta alts get smoked

• Liquidity dries up

Crypto goes risk-off hard.

Powell didn’t speak about the economy because he didn’t want his words priced in.

He didn’t tilt dovish.
He didn’t tilt hawkish.
He stayed neutral to keep all options open ahead of the biggest meeting of the quarter.

And that tells me one thing:

If you’re in crypto?
If you’re holding bags?
If you’re watching new chains get nuked?

This next FOMC meeting isn’t “important.”

It’s everything.

Zoom out.
Breathe.
Watch the data.

— C. Scott News (CSN)

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