Monthly Archives: August 2020

August 2020

Economic Outlook – 30 August 2020

2020-09-11T05:26:09+00:00

US The Federal Reserve has decided a chance of tack is necessary. Nothing too revolutionary of course, but a recognition that it should be more concerned with employment undershooting its goal than outperforming it. At the same time, having con­sistently over-predicted the future path of inflation over the past decade, it has come to the [...]

Economic Outlook – 30 August 2020 2020-09-11T05:26:09+00:00

Economic Outlook – 23 August 2020

2020-09-11T05:30:02+00:00

US Both housing starts and existing home sales trounced market forecasts in July, rising by 22.6% and 24.7% month-on-month, respectfully. Starts are now just 7.0% below their pre-pandemic peak (January), while exist­ing home sales are 8.0% above January levels. The housing market has been a bright spot for the US economy during this pandemic. Record-low [...]

Economic Outlook – 23 August 2020 2020-09-11T05:30:02+00:00

Economic Outlook – 16 August 2020

2020-09-11T05:30:30+00:00

US Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, rebounded more sharply than ex­pected. Core inflation rose 0.6% month-over-month, the largest jump since 1991. The move was largely due to price hikes in areas that had seen significant discounting earlier in the pandemic, like motor vehicle insurance and airline fares. The acceleration in price growth [...]

Economic Outlook – 16 August 2020 2020-09-11T05:30:30+00:00

Economic Outlook – 9 August 2020

2020-09-11T05:31:06+00:00

US The manufacturing recovery picked up momentum during the month, with the ISM index rising to 54.2. Underlying details of the manufacturing report paint a brighter picture than previous months as well. The service sector was widely expected to weaken in July amid the flare-up of new cases, but the rebranded ISM Services (formerly called [...]

Economic Outlook – 9 August 2020 2020-09-11T05:31:06+00:00