Economic Commentary

ECONOMY AND POLICY December 17, 2021   Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses the latest market data. As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee accelerated the reduction (“tapering”) of its monthly asset purchases (now expected to end in March rather than June). The policy statement indicated that “job gains have been solid in recent months and […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY December 17, 2021   Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions. The pandemic has changed the economy in a number of ways, but the transformation has been far from settled. Economic growth should continue in 2022, but there are a number of uncertainties, including whether labor force participation will pick up […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY December 10, 2021   Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses the latest market data. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.7% in November, up 6.8% year over year (vs. +1.3% y/y a year earlier). Ex-food and energy, the CPI rose 0.5%, up 4.9% from a year earlier (vs. +1.6% y/y in November 2020). […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY December 10, 2021   Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions. In his congressional testimony of November 30, Fed Chair Powell seemed to shift from cautious to hawkish. However, the evolution of the inflationary outlook had been underway for a while. The spike in inflation in the spring was narrow, the […]