December 11, 2018 On Friday we had the last jobs report before the Federal Reserve Board meets again next week to consider whether to raise interest rates one more time in 2018. Heading into the report, market analysts were pegging the probability of a hike at close to 80%. The volatility in the stock and […]
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November 27, 2018 This week’s topic is very interesting. The economy is rolling along and, thus far the housing sector has contributed to this economic growth. But recent evidence is pointing towards at least a slight slowdown in the sector. The question is, how much will this slowdown affect the overall economy? Generally, real estate […]
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November 13, 2018 Though we are not in the business of predicting the future, it is sometimes very interesting to go back and see how forecasts play out after the fact. Especially when there is a lot of news happening during a short period of time. First, we had the jobs report released on November […]
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October 30, 2018 It will likely be a very busy end of the year and this current period will significantly contribute to that forecast. Last week we had the first reading of economic growth for the third quarter and minutes released from the last meeting of the Federal Reserve Board’s Open Market Committee. Those minutes […]
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October 23, 2018 For the first time in several years, the real estate market is a lagging part of the economy. For some time, the real estate market has led the economy forward, but in the past year or so, the economy has outshined the real estate sector. In most times a stronger economy helps […]
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October 9, 2018 The first major data has been released during the last quarter of the year. The September jobs report showed an increase of 134,000 jobs, less than expected; however, the previous two months of job gains were revised upward by 87,000 jobs. The headline unemployment rate moved to 3.7%, the lowest in almost […]
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October 2, 2018 The end of the quarter is especially busy when the Federal Reserve Board schedules its meeting at the same time. We are just days past the Fed announcement to raise short-term rates by 1/4 of one percent and a confirmation of strong economic growth for the second quarter. In addition, at the end this […]
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September 25, 2018 Let us assume that the prognosticators are correct, and the Federal Reserve Board will hike short-term rates by one-quarter of one percent when they finish their two-day meeting tomorrow. What questions does that leave us with? For one, will the Fed’s announcement also give us a hint about whether there will be […]
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September 18, 2018 Taking into account recent statements by the members of the Federal Reserve Board and recent economic reports, as we mentioned previously, the markets are counting upon a rate increase next week when the Fed meets. The acceleration of wage growth has the markets particularly worried and right now many analysts are expecting […]
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