The Fed will calm a stormy market
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There's plenty of bad short-term news roiling stocks, but interest-rate policy is on a favorable course says Money Magazine's Michael Sivy.

(Money Magazine) -- The stock market is in turmoil. Banks keep announcing big losses, and economists are raising the odds for a recession. Does that mean you need to be doing a dozen things right now to protect your investments?

Big shocks would seem to call for big adjustments, and there may be more scary stuff to come. No one really knows how weak the economy will get, for example, or how many additional write-offs banks will report - not to mention how far the dollar will fall or how high oil prices will soar.

All those things are plenty worrisome to stock market pros who get judged on a quarterly basis. But the truth is that if you're saving for the long term, there are only a few key issues you need to consider. Chief among them is the Federal Reserve's interest-rate policy, as a new study confirms. And on that front, the prospects for stocks are brighter today than they were a year ago.

The Fed is your friend