Good morning contrarians! Stocks are selling off again after the Swiss National Bank’s surprise rate hike…

We had the U.S. Federal Reserve yesterday hike interest rates by 75bps, more than the 50bps anticipated and the Fed’s first such move in more than a quarter century (1994 was the last time the Fed raised by this much). Markets took this surprisingly well and even rallied into the close.

That’s all gone now. This morning the Swiss National Bank came in with a surprise rate hike of its own, by 50bps, to combat inflation in that country. The Bank of England just saw the SNB and Fed and raised by 25bps, though this was in line with expectations.

Now come the inevitable concerns that higher interest rates will take their toll on economic growth, raising borrowing costs and leading to an increase in defaults — both personal and corporate. So no surprise, then, that markets are selling off this morning. Maybe the real surprise is why they rallied yesterday in the first place? Some theories on this that is discussed in the podcast (too much to type).

Speaking of the podcast get that along with the full briefing here: