Short Month
February 26, 2019 This is not a leap year, so February is a very short month. It seems like it just started, but February is ending in two days. For most of us dealing with snow and cold, we are pretty happy to be saying goodbye to February. Government workers are especially happy as they […]
Read MoreGood News Scenario?
February 19, 2019 When we entered 2019, we were dealing with a government shutdown, interest rates that were supposed to rise, a nervous stock market and a slowing economy. There was a lot of pessimism running in the veins of economists and market analysts. The question is–was this pessimism justified? Well, let’s start by reviewing […]
Read MoreEchoes of the Shutdown
February 12, 2019 Analysts are still assessing the economic reverberations of the government shutdown. The Congressional Budget Office released the official tally at a whopping eleven billion dollars, but we wonder what secondary and tertiary effects may have multiplied the costs. It is certainly hard to measure the psychological damage that was done. Even the […]
Read MoreFeds and Jobs
February 5, 2019 The government shutdown dominated the news in January. Many economic reports were delayed, including the preliminary report of economic growth for the fourth quarter. But important events did occur last week, including the Federal Reserve Board announcement after their meeting and the jobs report release for January. Analysts were wondering whether the […]
Read MoreThe Fed Decision and Jobs
January 29, 2019 Tomorrow the Federal Reserve Board releases their decision on rates after their first meeting of 2019. Based upon comments made by members after their increase in December, there is little possibility of another increase in January and only a slightly greater possibility during their next meeting in March. The comments continually talked […]
Read MoreThe Shutdown Effect
January 22, 2019 Regardless of the fact that the government will not stay shut forever, many analysts are asking whether the shutdown might have a significant negative influence on the economy in the short-run and even some repercussions going forward. Even though back pay will be taken care of, the fact that almost a million […]
Read MoreVolatility – What Does It Mean?
January 15, 2019 Last year was very interesting. The previous year we had great gains in the stock markets and enjoyed lower interest rates. We began 2018 with even more stock gains, fueled by a significant corporate tax cut. But the boost to the economy at a time when we were already at low employment […]
Read MoreNew Year Jobs Report
January 8, 2019 Actually, the data is from 2018, but it is the most significant data thus far released in 2019. On Friday, the jobs numbers showed the addition of 312,000 jobs last month, more than making up for a miss the previous month. In addition, the previous two months’ numbers were revised upward by […]
Read MoreInterest Rate Predictions
January 1, 2019 It is officially 2019! Every year high-paid economists come out with their predictions for a host of economic indicators, from economic growth to the pace of inflation. It is always interesting to look at these in hind sight, especially when forecasting the direction of interest rates. It seems that just about every […]
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