The long awaited drop-off in housing activity may have started.

The market liked what it didn't see. The market got itself worked up about the Fed possibly being more aggressive about inflation and when that didn't appear in the minutes, investors then focused on a relatively benign view of inflation.

The current focus going into the employment report this week has much more to do with habit than anything based in reality.

All told, we have more of the same. The economy is going to accelerate in some areas and decelerate in others and the labor market is going to be the one that keeps getting squeezed.

I don't think this is going to draw much in the way of the Fed's attention. It was delayed for some time, and nobody from the Fed was complaining. They don't focus on it.

The Fed keeps trying to walk the middle course, and unfortunately that gives ammunition to people who think the Fed should be raising rates more and ammunition to people who think the Fed should be done.

Once a person is appointed, they are basically independent. If you're president, you want someone who would temper their criticism of you.

The big wild card becomes what the Fed does about it. That's why the bond market is rallying -- rather than concentrate on the inflationary aspects of higher oil prices, the market thinks the Fed will focus on the growth aspects.

It puts the Fed in a position they probably don't want to be in, but they'll have to keep raising rates.

This is as aggressive as I've ever seen for the Fed in terms of making clear that they're raising rates and that they're not near being done.