Economic Newsletter – September 2024
For the first week of the month, it looked like the we were entering the time-honored “dog days of August”, that foreboding mindset people get when they feel stuck in the mud and sense that things just weren’t going right.
Economic Newsletter – August 2024
In the spring of 2022, the Federal Reserve embarked on a mission to wrestle inflation under control without cratering the economy. At the time, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the core Personal Consumption Deflator, was increasing at a 5.5 percent rate and the unemployment rate stood at 3.6 percent.
Economic Newsletter – July 2024
It’s a long way to Christmas, but with a nod to that beloved holiday ballad, it’s beginning to look a lot like a soft landing. Bing Crosby is no longer with us, but Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, may soon be singing the praises for the way the economy is performing.
Economic Newsletter – June 2024
For economists and policy makers, waiting for inflation to subside is like waiting for Godot. But that time may finally have arrived, as the consumer price index rose less than expected in April.
Economic Newsletter – May 2024
Has the Fed thrown in the towel? That’s the question investors are grappling with; and those who think they know the answer are being deceived.
Economic Newsletter – April 2024
With a presidential election looming, geopolitical tensions escalating and a central bank considering a major shift in its policy stance, 2024 looks to be an eventful year with a wide range of possible outcomes.
Economic Newsletter – March 2024
January tends to be an ornery month for economists, and the calendar did not disappoint this year. In the closing months of 2023, it appeared that a Goldilocks economy was unfolding, one that featured a cooling, but still solid, pace of economic activity amid a steady decline in inflation.
Economic Newsletter – February 2024
No Quit in This Economy. 2023 ended on a high note, punctuated by sharp rallies in both the stock and bond markets, tangible evidence that the economy is on a steady disinflationary growth path, and strong indications that the Fed is poised to cut rates in 2024.
Economic Newsletter – January 2024
The era of low rates ended in March 2022 when the Federal Reserve belatedly started the most aggressive rate-hiking campaign in a generation, lifting its policy rate 11 times from near zero to a range of 5.25-5.50 percent in July of 2023, where it has remained. Until a few weeks ago, the central bank has wavered over what to do next, raise again or keep them “higher for longer”.
Economic Newsletter – December 2023
Higher Speed Limit Slows Inflation
The holiday shopping season has officially kicked off , and while some have predicted a less festive Santa might have been coming down the chimney, the nation’s collective stockings will not be filled with coal.
