Unemployment

The Economic Week Ahead: August 5-9

Aug 4, 2024 3 min read paid

The week ahead is relatively light in terms of economic reports. It's also light on talking Fed heads. But, we won't be surprised if one or two of them pops up on CNBC. We think they might push back against the rate-cut mob that is calling for a 50bps cut in the federal funds rate in September. It would be a shame if they joined in

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Beryling Toward Rate Cuts

Aug 2, 2024 2 min read

Some macroeconomic storm clouds are brewing. Markets are fleeing for shelter in Treasuries, leaving behind almost everything else, including their prized LargeCap tech stocks and recently acquired SMidCaps. Here's the market action as of midday: * The Nasdaq officially entered a correction, down more than 10% from its record high reached roughly a month ago. * The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) popped to 29, which hasn’t been seen since

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Risk On, Risk Off

Aug 1, 2024 2 min read paid

Today was a good day for the diehard hard-landers and the "stag-disinflationists." They're probably high fiving each other. We are in neither camp–we expect a continuation of “immaculate disinflation,” i.e., a growing economy with subdued inflation. We're high fiving over today’s productivity and labor costs report. In any event, bond investors are certainly enjoying themselves; the 10-year yield fell 12 basis

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Stock Market Rotates To Interest-Rate Sensitive Sectors

Jul 18, 2024 3 min read paid

The bull market in stocks has been quite volatile in recent days as it rotates and broadens. The triggering event was a better-than-expected June CPI report on Thursday, July 11. Since then, the financial markets priced in a 100% probability of a Fed rate cut in September. Investors responded by rotating out of the S&P 500's Magnificent-7 into the S&P 1493 (i.e., 1500

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Disinflating CPI Broadens Market Rally As Investors Rotate To SMidCaps

Jul 11, 2024 2 min read paid

This morning, we weren't surprised by June's lower-than-expected CPI report. It does increase the odds of a cut in the federal funds rate (FFR) in September. That supports our expectation for the stock market rally to continue and broaden out from the Magnificent-7. Indeed, the Russell 2000 rose more than 3% this morning, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined as investors rotated into

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

The Economic Week Ahead: July 8-12

Jul 7, 2024 3 min read paid

Last month, lower-than-expected CPI and PPI inflation readings for May, along with rising unemployment claims for June, raised market expectations that the Fed will ease monetary policy sooner rather than later. The week ahead will be dominated by inflation data and jobless claims that are likely to confirm that the economy is in a disinflationary soft patch. That could boost both stock and bond prices. Consider the following: (1) CPI.

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Soft Patch Getting Softer. Is That Raising Odds of Fed Rate Cut in September & Stock Market Meltup?

Jul 3, 2024 3 min read paid

Last week and this week have been good ones for the recession camp of economists. Indeed, the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tracking model's estimate of real GDP growth during Q2-2024 dropped from a robust 3.0% on June 26 to half as much today. The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index is the most negative it has been since August 2022 (chart). We are still in the soft-patch camp.

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

The Economic Week Ahead: July 1-5

Jun 30, 2024 2 min read paid

We know there will be fireworks on July 4th. The question is whether we should expect any blasts or just fizzling sounds during the week ahead related to the economy and the labor market. The holiday-shortened week will be jampacked with employment indicators. We aren't expecting any big surprises: (1) Payroll employment. We expect that June's employment report (Fri) will show payrolls rose by 150,000

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Another Soft Patch

Jun 27, 2024 3 min read paid

The economy has experienced neither a hard landing nor a soft landing since the Fed started tightening monetary policy in March 2022. It has experienced a few rolling recessions in industries like housing and retailing, which spurred soft patches in overall economic growth. The economy may be going through another soft patch, as evidenced by the Citigroup Economic Surprise Index, which has been modestly negative since May 3 (chart). After

Ed Yardeni

Rate Cuts This Year Unlikely As Fed Gets Closer To 2.0% Target

Jun 26, 2024 3 min read paid

We still expect that the Fed's preferred core PCED inflation measure will fall to the Fed's 2.0% target by the end of this year (chart). It was already down to 2.8% y/y in April. May's number will be released on Friday, and should show further progress. We don't see the Fed cutting the federal funds rate (FFR) this year,

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

The Economic Week Ahead: June 24-28

Jun 23, 2024 3 min read paid

The key indicator everyone's watching this week is May's PCED (Fri). We expect the Fed's preferred inflation gauge will continue to show progress toward its 2.0% target. The labor market may also take center stage this week. If weekly jobless claims (Thu) increase sharply after falling 5,000 to 238,000 in the June 15 week, the 10-year Treasury yield would likely dip

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Multi-Family Housing Glut?

Jun 20, 2024 2 min read paid

Today's batch of economic indicators was on the weak side. Indeed, the Citigroup Economic Surprise Index fell deeper into negative territory today (chart). Does this suggest that the odds of a recession are increasing? Nope: The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tracking model is now projecting 3.0% real growth in Q2, down from 3.1% on June 18. The stock market held its ground: The S&

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

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