S2 E2: What Does the FOMC Know, That the Markets Don't?

What Does the FOMC Know, That the Markets Don't? 

Alternative Title: "Jerome Powell goes Mandelbaum on the Market!"
 
Indeed, Jerome Powell and the FOMC stunned markets last week as the US Central Bank did NOT verbally "protest" the uber-dovish Fed Funds Rates "priced into" the futures market for end-2024 (roughly 4.50%, down from 5.00% in October), but rather went DEEPER and MORE DOVISH, with projections that put the FF Policy Rate BELOW 4% by the end of next year. 

The Fed went "Mandelbaum" on the markets..."taking it up a notch", like the famed supporting character in the US sitcom "Seinfeld", an 80-year-old workout guru and Jerry's personal trainer Izzy Mandelbaum.

But WHY?
 

With inflation at 3% to 4%, the 5.5% FF Policy Rate is "sufficiently restrictive", and thus right where they want it to be. Moreover, inflation remains sticky in many staples and embedded in housing and services. So WHY the DRAMATIC and abrupt 180-degree about-face in monetary policy?
 

Does the Fed know something the markets don't?

Perhaps, The Fed is moving to protect something other than the economy...maybe there is an issue with credit conditions and the BANKS?