US As Americans got busy picking the perfect turkey and making Black Friday shopping lists, financial markets were rather quiet in a holiday-shortened week. Despite thin markets, economists did have some interesting new data to sift through, most notably a nice upward revision to GDP growth in Q3. The good news was tempered somewhat by [...]
US Overall conditions in the US economy continue to show improvement. With labor market conditions back on solid footing, attention has now turned to the second half of the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate, stable inflation. This week, the pulse of consumer prices was taken, which are increasing at a much faster pace than the Fed’s [...]
US Following a string of upbeat U.S. economic reports (on employment, auto sales and non-manufacturing), the October retail sales release was a relative dud. Although core sales rose modestly, they have softened since the summer, suggesting a loss of momentum heading into the holiday shopping season. Real consumer spending looks to increase about 3% y/y [...]
US The call for Federal Reserve rate hikes grew louder this week. In testimony to Congress on Wednesday, Fed chairwoman Yellen noted that the next FOMC meeting in December is a “live possibility” for interest rate hikes. On Friday, a resounding jobs report that showed the economy created 271k jobs in October added a jolt [...]
US The Federal Reserve maintained its stance on monetary policy at its October Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, holding its short-term target rate steady. The meeting was largely a non-event; however, language in the statement was adjusted to show less concern about the impact of global developments and financial markets on the overall economy [...]
