US Economics Update Firms still reluctant to invest despite post-election cheer The sharp rise in the NFIB optimism index in November shows that the election result has had a clear positive impact not only on consumer confidence but small business sentiment too. The details... 13th December 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Trump fiscal stimulus will boost GDP growth The prospect of a major fiscal stimulus means that we are formally raising our forecasts for real GDP growth, inflation and interest rates. There is still considerable uncertainty surrounding exactly... 22nd November 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Tighter financial conditions won’t stop the Fed Although the tightening of financial conditions has persuaded the Fed to hold off from tightening monetary policy on several occasions over the past couple of years, we doubt that the recent surge in... 21st November 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Fed’s Yellen stalls for time, but December rate hike coming Chair Janet Yellen’s remarkably bland prepared congressional testimony today did nothing to change our view that the Fed will hike interest rates at the upcoming mid-December FOMC meeting. Despite... 17th November 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Trump victory to bring lasting uncertainty and volatility Donald Trump’s conciliatory acceptance speech, which suggests that he can be a more statesmanlike President rather than the demagogue of the election campaign, has helped to reverse some of the... 9th November 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update NFIB & JOLT surveys suggest wage growth has further to rise The latest NFIB and JOLT surveys provide further evidence that labour market slack is diminishing only very gradually. That said, they suggest that the recent acceleration in wage growth is set to... 8th November 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Clinton win looking increasingly likely Going into today’s presidential election, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton appears to have established a solid three to four point lead in the polls over Republican rival Donald Trump but, given... 8th November 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Fed on track for December rate hike As widely expected, the Fed left interest rates unchanged at this week’s FOMC meeting, but it appears to be intent on hiking interest rates at the upcoming December meeting. Nevertheless, next week’s... 2nd November 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Disputed election result would introduce new uncertainty The presidential election race is now too close to call, raising the possibility of a near-tied election result that would be aggressively disputed by one or both of the candidates. Under those... 2nd November 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Stronger dollar not enough to knock the Fed off course The recent strengthening in the dollar and rise in Treasury yields are unlikely to prevent the Fed from raising rates in December. The moves seen so far have been small, and with a December rate hike... 20th October 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Would a Clinton win really be a boon for the stock market? The conventional wisdom is that a Clinton administration would represent a near seamless continuation of the current Obama administration, but that view could be under-estimating the potential for a... 18th October 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update NFIB & JOLT surveys point to slightly weaker labour market The latest NFIB and JOLT surveys add to the recent evidence that labour market conditions have weakened a little over the past year, and that slack is no longer diminishing at such a rapid pace. 12th October 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Election doesn’t seem to be holding back the economy There is little evidence that the upcoming presidential election played any role in the weakness of economic growth in the first half of this year or, despite the early optimism, what is shaping up to... 5th October 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Trump, Yellen and the Federal Reserve If Donald Trump wins November’s presidential election, there is now a clear possibility that Fed Chair Janet Yellen would resign almost immediately, perhaps even before the mid-December FOMC meeting... 27th September 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Fed on track for a December rate hike The Fed left its policy rate unchanged at between 0.25% and 0.50% at the conclusion of this week's FOMC meeting, but it appears to be firmly on track for a December hike. However, the fed funds rate... 21st September 2016 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Monetary Indicators Monitor (Aug. 16) The annual growth rates of all the monetary aggregates accelerated in August, with a particularly pronounced pick-up in narrow M1 money growth, but bank loan growth has slowed slightly. The latter is... 20th September 2016 · 1 min read
