The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

Take My Rate Hike, Please You hear the one about inflation?

5. Party Time!

Making merry isn't Alan Greenspan's main job. But that didn't stop him from throwing an impromptu surprise party for the market Tuesday afternoon.

By now, Wall Street takes it for granted that every six weeks the Federal Open Market Committee will raise its interest-rate target by a quarter of a percentage point. This has become such conventional wisdom that no one much debates the rate move itself anymore. Instead, traders focus on the jargon-laden policy statement.

Lately, the Fed's hot-button words revolve around "measured" interest rate hikes and "well contained" inflation risks. So you can imagine what happened when the Fed omitted the customary statement that "long-term inflation risks remain well contained."

Why, stocks sold off, that's what happened. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 50 points heading into the last 10 minutes of trading.

That's when funnyman Greenspan let everyone in on the punch line. The Fed put out a "corrected" statement that included the line about longer-term inflation risks remaining well contained. Stocks bounced back to finish basically flat.

So how'd the notoriously meticulous Federal Reserve manage to botch its own policy statement? Oh, it was just a little mistake, the Fed says: The line in question was dropped inadvertently.

Good thing the FOMC doesn't have to issue its boilerplate more often. My face is hurting from laughing so hard.

To watch Colin's humorous video take on the AIG matter, click here.