Economic Commentary

ECONOMY AND POLICY February 04, 2022   Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions. The January job market data were expected to be squirrelly, with the Omicron variant expected to dampen the pace of nonfarm payrolls. Instead, we got an upside surprise. Payrolls rose by 467,000. More importantly, annual benchmark revisions redistributed job growth […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY January 28, 2022   Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses the latest market data. In his renomination hearing, Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed that the key to maximum sustainable employment and financial stability was keeping inflation low. However, he didn’t appear as hawkish as financial market participants had feared. The Fed’s Beige Book […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY January 28, 2022   Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions. As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee left short-term interest rates unchanged, but strongly signaled that a hike will be coming in March. However, Chair Powell’s comments during his press conference caught investors’ attention. Asked about the timing and pace […]

ECONOMY AND POLICY January 21, 2022   Chief Economist Scott Brown discusses current economic conditions. The answer to questions about monetary policy is always “it depends,” but the Fed doesn’t like to surprise the markets, so there’s usually little suspense in the short term. The Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to leave short-term […]