Yellen Attempts to Temper Stock Market Enthusiasm

Fresh comments about stock market valuations from Fed Chairman Janet Yellen is raising eyebrows on Wall Street this morning. In the Q&A part of this morning's speech at the "Finance and Society" conference in Washington, D.C., Yellen said equity market valuations are "quite high."

Also raising eyebrows were comments from the Fed Chair that "liftoff" could trigger a sharp jump in long rates.

While some said today's comments from Yellen were reminiscent of former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's "irrational exuberance" comment in late 1996, others recall Ms. Yellen's comment last year that biotech valuations "appear substantially stretched".

Greenspan's comments created a sharp sell-off in the market the day of the speech but stocks continued on their massive rally through 1999. Eventually he proved correct in his assessment, but not before more massive market gains were seen.

Likewise, Yellen's comments on biotech stocks were premature if not entirely off base.

Stocks dipped slightly on today's comments from Yellen. The down is currently down 106, while the S&P 500 is down 8.

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