Monday’s market was enough to make people nervous.

U.S. stocks, gold, Bitcoin—almost everything that could be sold was being sold. Gold dropped below $4,200, BTC briefly fell below 90,000, and crude oil plunged right through its 50-day moving average to below 60. The declines themselves weren’t outrageous, but the real issue is: U.S. Treasury yields are still rising, and so is the dollar index. This setup clearly shows that funds are fleeing.

This round of declines is different from those previous “who knows why it’s dropping” moments—this time there are countless reasons:

Japanese government bonds were the first to crash, which immediately spread to U.S. Treasuries—the 10-year yield shot up to 4.16%, just a hair away from its previous high. The market has started to reprice the Fed’s “rate cuts”: yes, cuts are coming, but don’t expect them to be a sign of easy money. In other words, rate cuts no longer equal a “liquidity signal”—they’re more of a technical tweak to the dashboard.

The most brutal part was Hassett’s remarks. This Fed chair frontrunner bluntly said: “Setting the rate path six months in advance? That would be irresponsible.” He emphasized that the Fed’s job is to watch the data, make adjustments, and explain the logic—not to make promises, not to give spoilers, and not to be aggressive.

No sooner had he spoken than traders immediately slashed their expectations for rate cuts in 2026, from three to just two. Hassett’s statement was even more impactful than the number of basis points cut—it revealed the Fed’s new “persona” ahead of time: Don’t guess, don’t gamble, just follow the data obediently.