Like a recurring bad dream, the debt ceiling is back in the news. The periodic political spasm over increasing the amount of money that the government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations is not new, but because it comes on the tail end of a global pandemic, it seems horribly ill-timed.
Read MoreIf you didn’t have the time or the energy to dive into the Biden Administration’s $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan (AJP), fear not, I have you covered.
Read MoreIf you feel like things are more expensive, you are right. Despite a slightly weaker than expected inflation report in April, this year, prices have accelerated faster than Fed officials anticipated just a few months ago. Last week we learned that headline inflation increased to a 14-month high of 2.5 percent from a year ago in April, due in large part to rising gas prices. Excluding food and energy the core rate increased by 2.1 percent.
Read MoreThe Fed likes to act in December…and this December will be no different. When the central bankers convene their two-day policy meeting this week, they are widely expected to increase short-term interest rates by a quarter of a percent to a new range of 1.25 to 1.5 percent. It would be the third increase of the year, the fourth in the past year and the fifth of the rate increase cycle.
Read MoreNow that President Trump has named Jerome (“Jay”) Powell as the next Federal Reserve Chairman, to succeed Janet Yellen, you may experience one of those, “Why do I care about this?” moments.
Read MorePresident Trump and Congressional Republicans are about to unveil two, potentially market-moving measures: a tax overhaul plan and a new Federal Reserve Chair. As if those were not enough, those events will occur amid a Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting, a monthly jobs report and stock markets soaring to new highs.
Read More"The simple message is the economy is doing well," Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen said in the press conference that followed the central bank’s third quarter-point rate hike in 15 months. She went on to say "We have confidence in the robustness of the economy and its resilience to shocks." You might be wondering what exactly “well” means. Let’s start with the long-term economic growth rate, which has averaged about three percent annually for the 50 years from 1966 through 2016.
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