It was not a surprise when the Federal Reserve (the Fed) increased its reference rate, last Wednesday. Markets had anticipated it. But it was the Dot Plot that caused the jitters in the financial markets.

The so called Dot Plot is a chart showing preferences of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regarding the Fed's rate trajectory in the next three years. FOMC members pencil in each preferred projections as a dot, hence the name. This dot p