Apollo: The Federal Reserve chooses to directly ignore the impact of the Middle East.

Torsten Slok, Chief Economist of Apollo Global Management, said that the organization has decided to "completely ignore" the Middle East shocks facing the market, as the Federal Reserve voted to maintain interest rates. Slok believes that for such shocks to have a serious impact on the Federal Reserve's economic models, they would need to last at least a quarter; however, the Federal Reserve has clearly stated that they do not believe these shocks will last too long.