Ask the Federal Reserve who it is responsible to, and the central bank might say Congress, the economy, or the public. Goldman Sachs adds investment markets, whether or not the central bank likes it.

The Fed and its officials insist they don't cater to outside influences. After the Federal Open Markets Committee at the end of July, Chair Jerome Powell told reporters at the press conference that the central bank would not bend to the political pressure historically common in election years. There have been colorful stories, like when President Lyndon B. Johnson reportedly pushed then-Fed Chair Bill Martin up against a wall as part of his, uh, persuasion.

And Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, recently addressed pressure from investors and markets. "We've got to be monitoring the real side of the economy: There's nothing in the Fed's mandate that's about making sure the stock market is comfortable," he told the New York Times in a recent interview.